The SOHO Quest

Franchises and Business Loans

2010-05-15T08:53:00.002-05:00

How to Pick the Right Franchise for You

Franchising is a time-honored way to get started in business by reaping the benefits of someone else's business experience. You will probably have to take out a business loan to get started, as buying a franchise can be far more expensive than starting on your own, however, it also has a bigger potential to create a steady business income almost immediately. There are so many different types of franchises out there, that there's bound to be one that's right for you. However, it's up to you to do your due diligence and investigate each opportunity so that there are as few surprises in the future as possible.

Look At Many Different Options

When you think of a franchise, you might think of fast food places, like MacDonalds. However, they are just one of many types of businesses that use the franchise model. There are franchises for office supply stores, for tax preparation businesses, and even for school models. Each have their own franchise contracts and will expect different things from you as a franchise owner. You will want to pick a business that suits your knowledge of the market place and that appears to have a strong market niche.

Contact Other Franchise Owners

Once you've spotted a couple different opportunities, you need to know how much it will cost to buy into the franchise. The best way to get a good understanding of the costs of franchise is to talk to other franchise owners. They can not only tell you how the experience went for them, but how much it eventually turned out to be in total franchise fees and business startup costs. You will have a written contract, and you want to review that, but the best source of information are the current franchise owners themselves.

Freelance writing jobs » The Ruggedized Laptop Computer Value Proposition

2009-05-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

Good news for those who work and travel with computers.

Freelance writing jobs » The Ruggedized Laptop Computer Value Proposition

This includes free lancers and telecommuters.

Tips for Business Success in Today's Tough Market Place

2009-04-18T02:20:00.001-05:00

By Storm Castle

Does your company do business to business prospecting? Have you ever considered using an outbound telemarketing company? If you are wondering if your business will be able to endure the current economic troubles, this article is exactly what you need to read. There are six tips that can help your business find success even in a bad economy.

The following six tips are ways your company can not only survive, but thrive during tough economic times. Increasing your marketing budget, using the power of leverage, focusing your efforts where they will be most effective, properly training your employees, providing excellent customer service and keeping a positive attitude are all ways to keep your business profitable in difficult economic times.

The first way for increasing profits during a recession may sound backwards, but increasing the amount of money you spend on marketing your business instead of reducing it is one thing that can help your business make a profit during a recession. Countless businesses make the mistake of considering their marketing an expense instead of an investment and wind up destroying their businesses by cutting back in this area.

The second tip is to use the power of leverage by hiring a business to business prospecting company to do outbound telemarketing for your business. This helps your team use their time more wisely.

The next tip is to focus your efforts where they will be most effective, which is spending time closing sales. When the telemarketing programs do their job effectively your team can spend the majority of their time making sales which means increased profits for you.

The fourth tip involves properly training your employees to work with the highly qualified leads they receive from these lead generation companies. Proper training will help them make the most of these leads and sales will go through the roof regardless of what is happening in the economy.

The fifth tip for business success in tough economic times is to provide excellent customer service. Getting repeat business is much more cost effective and profitable than having to constantly prospect for new business so it is vital to keep your current customers happy.

The sixth and final tip for business success in tough economic times is keeping a positive attitude. People have a tendency to create the exact amount of success they believe they will and your positive attitude will be reflected in your employees' attitudes and achievements as well as your own.

Implementing the six ways listed above can help your business to increase profits during a recession. Business to business prospecting is one area to concentrate your marketing efforts in since this will make four of the six ways happen. Then all you have to worry about are the last two ways including treating your clients to outstanding service and maintaining an optimistic outlook.

About the Author:

Visit Valerie Schlitt's site for information on outbound telemarketing and business to business telemarketing programs.

4/15 Yahoo! News: Work from Home

2009-04-15T16:17:00.003-05:00

Yahoo! News Search Results for "work at home"

Career Step Partners with HCIT Solutions to Provide Training in Jamaica (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
April 15, 2009 at 3:01 am

Career Step has recently partnered with HCIT Solutions to help develop the Jamaican medical transcription field within the growing global healthcare industry.

Favors-n-Gifts.com Responds To Demand For Personalized Party Favors (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
April 15, 2009 at 3:01 am

Favors-n-Gifts.com caters to the high demand for personalized party favors with different customization options and lower prices.

Freelance writing jobs grew 500% in past year, according to oDesk (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
April 15, 2009 at 3:01 am

oDesk oConomy reports that freelance writing jobs, including technical writing, business writing, blog and article writing, editing, and translation services are all part of the growing demand for online jobs found on oDesk.

Secret Exposed: How the Google Search Engine Really Works

2009-04-15T02:29:00.004-05:00

By Henry Zeng

While we don't often think about - or even care - how the Google search engine works, it is very important for an online marketer who is using search engine optimization, or natural search marketing for their online business to understand the basic principles that drive Google.

There are three main parts to Google: Googlebot, The Indexer, and the Query Processor. Each of these three parts is crucial to online businesses, believe it or not. Let's take a deep look at each of these Google elements to see how they work.

Googlebot is the search engine spider that comes to your website and spiders your pages. It isn't an actual spider, of course.

It actually works more like a web browser by calling a server and requesting pages, and downloading them - just as you do when you open your browser, type in an URI, and then the web page loads.

Googlebot, however, is run by big number of computers and performs this task much faster than one user could on their home or work personal computer. And Googlebot doesn't know if a website exists until a URL is put into their Add URL form, or until they find a link point to that site on another web page.

When Googlebot comes to a page, they take all the links from that page, and put them in a queue for crawling, and repeat this process over and over again. Once Googlebot has found a link, and downloaded the page, it hands that page off to the Indexer.

The Indexer stores the pages in Google's Index Data base. The Index then sorts all of the pages in its data base, alphabetically, by looking at all of the keywords on the pages. The Indexer does not pay any attention to what Google calls stop words, such as is, on, or, why, how, etc. It just pays attention to more important keyword type words.

The Indexer, after Indexing pages, waits for the Google Query Processor to ask it for a list of documents. A keyword is given to the Query Processor, which in turn asks the Indexer for a list of stored websites contain that keyword.

The Indexer then supplies the Query processor with a list of the documents, and the Query processor presents the documents to the user who requested the keyphrase.

You see, each element is important to the others. It all starts with the Googlebot finding your web page link on another site, or by you going to Google and using the Add form to submit your site.

About the Author:

Ready to build backlinks and cash in with UniqueArticleWizard? Checkout ultimate SEO tips and special UniqueArticleWizard bonuses!

Google Voice Application will soon arrive in iPhone and iPod Touch

2009-04-12T02:14:00.003-05:00

By Haven Frbiz

GrandCentral Phone Service as a voice of the recycled products, Google introduced at the beginning of Google Voice Services, which provides integrated voice telephone service, including all the features of GrandCentral (useful for SOHOs).

In addition, Google will also provide a voice mail features automatic text copying, as well as send and receive text messages, Google voice communications will also be recorded with the Gmail integration implementation. Users can make free calls to any number in the United States.

Like Gizmodo, according to reports, Google Voice will soon appear in the form of application at the iPhone and iPod Touch. The application will include a dial-up, and it can be set aside (from Google Voice your number), and the iPhone will make its own bilateral linking.

It can also dial-up and cell phone, and contact list to work, while sending SMS. Google Voice also includes standard features such as phone logs, voice mail and so on.

The latest model stars Netbook - X-Slim and really drive map Wind U123 has just emerged, both CULV notebook using Intel's ultra-low voltage processor, running Windows Vista Home Premium system, only 0.7 inches thick, 2.8 pounds, is the MSI Dell used to combat the Adamo's flagship product, version with high prices also reached a level of more than 1000 U.S. dollars, the minimum should have 700 U.S. dollars, this series of products will also have 11.6, 14 and 15.6-inch version, let us Figure it together!

GIGABYTE is expected at the end of the second quarter with the cottage Internet Protocol of the Company products will be delivered, and the deal will allow Gigabyte notebook sales doubled compared to 3 last year! Last year, the Gigabyte notebook sales are only 15 million units, while in 2009 this figure grew to around 50 million units.

About the Author:

if you want find buyer online, please visit:cheaponsale.

4/10 Yahoo! News: Home Biz SEO

2009-04-10T15:59:00.003-05:00

Yahoo! News Search Results for "work at home"

Get #1 Rankings On Google with 10-Step Laser-Targeted Search Engine Optimization Tutorial (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
April 10, 2009 at 3:01 am

Since 2006, Matthew Bredel has built a successful online, home based business that's growth has depended largely on page 1 Google rankings and other SEO organic traffic. The SEO Exciter Series outlines many of his personal strategies in getting top search engine rankings for some of today's most competitive search engine keywords.

4/9 Yahoo! News: Technology and Telecommuting

2009-04-09T14:53:00.003-05:00

Yahoo! News Search Results for "work at home"

For Businesses to Grow in a Fledgling Economy, Turn to Technology and Telecommuting, Says E-Geniuses (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
April 9, 2009 at 3:05 am

Leading L.A.-based computer repair service company E-Geniuses illustrates how businesses can utilize technology and telecommuting to not only survive the economic crisis but to grow in a down market.

New Google Alerts Third-Party Add-On Boosts Marketing Intelligence Access for Small Businesses, Busy Pros (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
April 9, 2009 at 3:01 am

Developed by Adam Green, 'Mr. Google Alerts', AlertRank makes it easier to track, sort, rank and analyze Google-indexed news, blog postings and social media alerts

Adelaide Small Business Need SEO

2009-04-07T06:57:00.002-05:00

By Dr S Ausman

There are no secrets on how to rank high with the major search engines because effective search engine optimizations are now immense. What is search engine optimization? Before we discuss that thing, you have to understand first how search engines work and a bit of know-how.

Search engines are into providing their users with the most relevant and up-to-date information to match the search term that was used. They are sophisticated pieces of technology which allow users to quickly find relevant websites by searching for a word or a phrase. Search engine results are useless to users if the information doesn't relate to the search term, or if the results are old. People expect the most up-to-date and fresh information that is useful to them.

Updating your website everyday and adding some materials will help you get noticed by the search engines. So, if you are going to sell any type of product or service online, you have to optimize your website for the search engines, in order to boost traffic and sales. It is because over 90% of your business will likely come directly from search engine results. And for that reason, it is absolutely important to optimize your site for search engines for you to have the greatest deals in the entire world.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process by which webmasters or online business owners utilize strategic copy to augment their website's status. It is certain that the internet has grown so fast over the years and the competition for the best search engine position has created an enormous market. Therefore, better understanding the fundamental elements of Search Engine Optimization is vital for an online business' success.

Making use of effective search engine optimization techniques will improve the page rank of your website. There are many tricks that can be used to increase page rank; the most effective method is to provide high quality content consistently. This seems like a simple concept but there are many websites that fails to provide content that visitors find interesting. Sites which provide content that are interesting, well-written and regularly updated create highly engaged visitors who are more likely to return to the website in the coming days. So, if you can set your website apart from those boring, lifeless sites then do it. You'll surely have a step closer to achieving high page rank through search engine optimization.

The next significant factor for an effective search engine optimization is to include keywords and phrases within your content. To make sure that you are properly targeting your market, you have to make sure that the keywords and phrases you have on your site are the keywords and phrase that your site is actually optimized for. The more keywords you use in your content, the more likely it is that online visitors will find your site when they do some research with those words. If you are unfailing with these techniques, then your overall search engine optimization will increase, boosting your page rank.

You should also have to develop a linking strategy as a part of your search engine optimization. Not only does this provide free advertising for your site, but it makes the impression that your site is imperative because of its affiliated links. For each link that you have pointing back to you, that is another chance for your potential customer to find you. The more inbound links that you have pointing to your site, the higher you will be ranked in the search engines.

Another is to develop a content stratagem. People who get to search from the internet are looking for information. The more information you provide for them and the more helpful it is, the more likely you will make the sale. Writing articles is the most effective way to build up content for your site. When writing articles to post on your site, make sure that you develop a clear means of arranging their content. You can do this by simply adding a new page to your site. This will allow room for extra articles to be added as you write them, and will allow you to build up an archive of articles which will maintain to draw online visitors. Make sure also that you have included your archived articles in a directory that is next to the root web of your site so that the search engines will catalog your online articles.

Always keep in mind that search engine optimization methods are important in developing your site's status. With that thing in mind, make sure that you write high-quality, keyword rich content and link your site to and from a deliberate family of other sites. These things will help improve your site's popularity and coerce increased business through your online business.

About the Author:

A survey poll that was conducted shows that 80% of Australians choose to use internet search to find local businesses while only 17% use the Yellow Pages. Dont waste thousands on a Yellow Pages ad when you can tripple your clientele at a fraction of the cost. For more info, go to Adelaide SEO.

4/6 Yahoo! News: Mobile Internet

2009-04-06T14:10:00.002-05:00

Yahoo! News Search Results for "work at home"

Peplink Launches Enterprise Grade 3G Load Balancing (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
April 6, 2009 at 7:53 am

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.----Peplink, the pioneer in Internet link balancing and failover solutions, today announces the release of its Balance 20W mobile load balancing router. Peplink's innovative new product gives Internet reliability to mobile and remote locations where it is not currently possible.

Get More Business with Autoresponders

2009-04-05T03:54:00.001-05:00

By David Jessee

These days, most everyone is familiar with an autoresponder, although many don't know why they are beneficial to businesses. If you aren't familiar with autoresponders, you would probably find yourself amazed with them. An autoresponder can help your business by automatically emailing your clients and customers with a preset message that will help to increase your sales.

An autoresponder can help your list of clients grow, even send each one of them their own personalized email message. If you choose, you can also follow up each individual email with repeated emails, varying the content whenever you wish. These programs will also allow you to keep track of conversations, and send out broadcast email messages whenever you have news or new products to offer your clients.

As research in the past has shown, personalized email from autoresponders is a great way to boost your business. When you send a personalized email to one of your clients, the autoresponder by can address him or her by their name - which always makes a customer take notice. While you could do this yourself using traditional email, it could take you a few hours if you have a long list of customers.

Autoresponders make sending personalized email a snap. All you need to do is set up your email template, then select where you like the name to go. You can add everyone in your customer list to the autoresponder, which makes sending emails a snap. Once you have everything ready to go, all you need to do is send out the emails with one simple click. Best of all, you don't have to set it up again when you need to send out broadcast messages.

Although there are some people who will buy products after one or two emails, most people require about seven or eight emails before they will purchase anything. Autoresponders can really help you there, as they will do all of the emailing for you. You dont have to keep sending manual emails or anything like that. All you need to do is set up the email address, type in your preset message, and then feel free to send it as many times as you like.

Through the use of an autoresponder you can really boost your business. If you run an Internet marketing business, this tool will prove to be invaluable. You can spend less time sending messages and more time doing what you enjoy. If you've never tried an autoresponder before, you owe it yourself to check out everything they will do for you and your business. Online businesses can get a lot of emails on a daily basis, which is where the autoresponder will really start to shine and show you just how great of an asset it really is.

About the Author:

David Jessee is and experienced online marketer and knows how to make money online. Visit his make money online blogtoday for some great tips and tricks to help you increase your online income. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

Work at Home News Front

2009-04-03T13:29:00.004-05:00

Verbal Communication Skills Lacking in Some Job Seekers; Media Consultants Offer Job Interview Preparation

Landing a new job is hard work. Just getting through the first interview is a challenge especially for a professional who's been laid off from a position he has held for years. Media consultant Suzanne Spurgeon says, "Interview skills get rusty if you don't use them.

The AA'S £6.2BN Summit Paper on Curbing Motoring

As world leaders gather today at the G20 summit to discuss the global financial crisis, the AA's own president, Edmund King, is reminding motorists that with rising motoring costs upon us, it has never been a better time to shed the pounds. Drivers could save over £6 billion per year by following the AA's money saving tips.

Anti-Phishing Working Group Leading Initiative to Stop Consumers From Falling Prey to Money Laundering Scams

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & LOS ALTOS, Calif.----The Anti-Phishing Working Group announced today a new public education initiative to deliver free counter-crime video instruction to consumers.

Adwords Management - 7 Keys to Success: Part 1

2009-04-03T02:50:00.000-05:00

By George Kristopher

Most people advertising in Adwords today don't realize that they are losing tons of customers and leads all due to the fact that they don't know the 7 Key things they must do to set up a successful adwords campaign. If you follow these 7 key steps to setting up your adwords campaign, not only will your ad show up a lot higher in Google, but you'll also pay less per click than people advertising below you! Applying these 7 Crucial Steps will increase the amount of clicks you're getting per day and at the same time decrease the amount of money you're having to spend now!

Optimize Your Campaign For Google Are all of your keywords stuffed into one or just a few adgroups? Google hates it when campaigns are like this and determines that your campaign has 0 Relevancy! I know this strategy works, so for all of my clients I make their campaigns Super Relevant by taking each individual keyword and putting it in ad adgroup all on it's own! I know, it's days worth of work, but it reduces their click cost by an incredible amount! If you don't follow crucial step #1 you're going to be slapped! This means that Google will charge you insane amounts of money for your clicks and give your ads horrible placement.

Optimize your ads for Google The structure of your ads play a huge role in determining how much you pay per click. Just like in step #1 Google is obsessed with "Relevancy". Google's idea of a perfect ad actually has the keyword that was searched on show up twice in the ad; Once in the ad title, and once in the ad text. If Google see's that your ad displaying for the keyword, "injury attorney" actually has the keyword "injury attorney" appearing in your ad title and inyour ad text then Google is going to reward your ad for being perfectly relevant to the keyword that was searched on.

Google is going to reward you in two ways, 1) by charging you less per click and 2) by giving your ad a higher ad placement! But that's not all! Who searches on the keyword "injury attorney" will be more inclined to click on your ad because the actual keyword they searched on shows up twice in your ad! That means that by optimizing your ads you get more clicks, you spend less, AND you get higher ad placement! It's a win win situation!

You might ask, "Well how will I ever have time to write a super targeted ad like that for every keyword I have? That seems impossible!" Well, if you don't have time you should make time. My company write a super targeted ad for EVERY keyword that you have! It's a huge load of work, but we've found it's definitely worth it for our clients. Stay tuned for part 2 of this article series, on "Optimizing your site for Google and Keyword Swiping".

About the Author:

Claim Your Free Video Revealing the Secrets of how you can spend far less in Google Adwords and get even more clicks! George Kristopher, a respected Adwords Management expert will reveal to you the "7 Secrets" of getting lower click-costs and Great ad placement. Grab your PPC Management video now!

Privacy Policy - The SOHO Quest Blog

2009-03-31T08:47:00.004-05:00

Our Commitment To Your Privacy
To better protect your privacy we have provided this notice explaining our online information practices, and the choices you may make about the way your information is collected and used. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit this website, and how we safeguard your information. The SOHO Quest Blog will never sell your or trade your personal information to third parties.

Log Files
As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files.The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider), the browser you used to visit our site, and the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

Cookies and Web Beacons
We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site.This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to use features, such as a forum. We also use third party advertisements in support of this website. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit the website, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing local ads to someone in a particular geographic area) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (based the content of the types of websites frequented). You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with this website, as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

Our Commitment To Data Security
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Our Commitment To Child Privacy
Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 18, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 18. Under our Terms of Service, children under 18 are not allowed to access our service.

Collection of Personal Information
This information is purely used to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Importantly, IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Links to Third Party Websites
We have included links on this site for your reference. We are not responsible for the privacy policies on these websites.

lterations to this Privacy Statement
The content of this statement may be altered at any time.

SOHO Quest - New Contact Information

2009-03-31T00:35:00.004-05:00

This post provides updated contact information for this blog. If you have any questions regarding the content of The SOHO Quest Blog, about the products mentioned, or questions of any nature at all, do not hesitate to contact us at the following address.

Your feedback about this website is helpful, appreciated, and welcome.

Please contact us at: soho.quest@gmail.com

Updated About for The SOHO Quest

2009-03-30T23:54:00.004-05:00

The SOHO Quest is a blog dedicated to providing up-to-date information on the subject Small Office and Home Office.

This blog publishes reviews, informative content, tips and more with regard to working in an small office-home office environment. Navigate this blog by using the side bar links. Follow highlighted links you see throughout posts to learn about the products and services being mentioned.

This blog is intended to provide worthwhile information for those interested in working in a small office-home office.

Direct all questions to: soho.quest@gmail.com

Google Gets Voice

2009-03-24T08:53:00.008-05:00

Google GrandCentral has grown all up is being relaunched as Google Voice. This service will continue in beta testing with many new features. Grand Central was a start up "one-number access" telephone service that was purchased by Google soon after its debut.

This service will be styled similar to the Skype telephony business model, in that some of the calls are free, and international long distance will be offered at attractive rates way below what normal phone charges would be. As an example, calls to Canada reportedly will be one cent per minute.

This will be a great service for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small office/home office workers, which now includes distance workers, telecommuters and digital nomads. Get in line and queue up for a free Google Voice number.

From The Blogosphere:

Google Voice Blog: Moving to Google Voice!

We are happy to announce that we have made a number of improvements to GrandCentral and are relaunching the service as Google Voice.

Google Voice Speaks of World Domination

Google Voice is a free service that offers "one number for life," so I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.

Get Ready For Google Voice

The folks over at Google are working on a new project called Google Voice. According to the Google Blog site the first beta testing will be for GrandCentral [...]

Depression Cooking Teaches

2009-02-27T09:14:00.004-05:00

Check out Google Trends this morning, and you will see that Great Depression Cooking tops the charts. The television news anchors are starting to own up to the fact that we are in a depression, and not just your ordinary run of the mill recession.

Imports are down 24% and the economy in the US alone shrank over 6% in just one month. If you think there is any good news in this, it probably is only the fact we need to learn to individually become self reliant again. We can't sustain an economy where the only growth is in government.

If you have already lost your job, and are scratching your head as to what you will do when the unemployment insurance runs out, you may have figured out that it probably won't be a job like you had before. We are headed back to a more mercantile style society, where we each make and trade goods and services. Do you believe you can now start your own small office-home office based on new skills found learned and linked on the Internet?

If you are on your own SOHO quest, you may want to consider investing in and learning about working online. In many ways it is a quite separate and parallel economy. Almost unrelated to what is happening in the real world sector.

An alternative avocation is taking up the art of Depression Style Cooking.

SpiderWeb Will Rock the Web

2008-06-05T16:00:00.001-05:00

Whoa Baby! This blog is getting whiskers. Anyone that has followed my path will know that I now have been heavy into educating myself about Internet marketing. Thus, the reason for no posts.

But I have been busy investigating. One of the schemes is a beta program known as The SpideWeb Marketing System. If you have seen it in passing, but did not consider it...keep looking. This had the potential to be the next big monetizing scheme for the web.

Many have tried to create a self-sustained or auto-pilot system. This supposedly started out with 12 streams of income, but now has 22. I have a gut feeling you have to work it like any other business.

It still is in beta, so don't hope for much. I had numerous conversation with the owners and management team of this system about creating an inner circle training program. Alas, everyone wants something for nothing. You can generate free leads, but then you have to know what to do with them.

Check out my blog on the subject, too, at "The SpiderWeb System Information and Reviews".

How to Produce 365 Videos in One Year

2008-01-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

If you have been involved in the blogosphere for long, you know that many bloggers are gravitating towards video aka Video blogs, Vlogs, Vidcasts, or a Video Podcast.

This is a heads up on Mark Wielgus at 45n5.com. Mark is on top of online trends, and I am here to tell you that he researches, tests, and reports on things you will come to appreciate on a daily basis. All the information in this post was gleaned from 45n5. My belief is that Mark combines some marketing savvy with geekdom knowhow. He even writes simple, but useful utility programs and then gives them away for free on the blog. Here is a recent link to one he dubs "Keyword Scrubber".

45n5.com has turned into one of the few blogs I simply must check out on a daily basis. Now Mark is committed to deciphering Affiliate Marketing as a top priority. Another project he is combining with this effort is his personal mission to produce and post a video every day in 2008.

I think with 365 videos in the planning, his little experiment is one to watch for trends, plus the techniques, tips and tricks he is bound to uncover along the way. So, if you want to make 365 videos in one year, watch this guy in 2008 and I think you will learn something.

Prioritize Your Blogging for 2008

2008-01-05T12:21:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Social Media Optimization)

Welcome to the New Year! I have been spending the last week planning for 2008, which has included changes to my blogging style. If you follow my blogs, you know that I have decided to concentrate on Digital Nomads and The Rugged Notebooks Blog as my main focus for blogging, and with less frequent posting to this blog and The Sovereign Journey.

This is not for a lack or loss of interest, but merely a necessity of time management. Regardless, my blog niche revolves around the central theme of mobility and using technology to be independent. So, you can always check back here and/or catch my more frequent updates at the Rugged Notebooks or Digital Nomads sites. My plan this year is to move to private domains.

One thing I have been doing is writing more focused posts...themed, if you will, or a series of posts on a subject of interest. Recently, this has had a major slant towards telecom, and in particular new gadgets like MagicJack and VoIP telephoney solutions like Google GrandCentral.

I am finding that being more focused on a particular subject area makes it easier and more interesting to research, test, review, and write. I think my readers appreciate it a well and it is helping in the SERPS.

If you are still blogging, drop me a line and let me know how you are getting on. There seems to have been a drop in the number of friends I met online in 2007 that have continued to blog, or scaled back like I have. -Digital Nomad

Twelve Step Program for Email Addicts

2007-12-19T11:58:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Reviews)

I saw this over at the BigString 2.0 website and thought it was good advice. BigString is an interesting concept in itself, which I will let you discover for yourself. These 12 items have been edited somewhat, so not to get dinged for duplicate content. There were some typos in the original text anyway. Enjoy.

1. Do not send email when you are angry. Wait until you calm down before you send that email. Feelings and thoughts can be difficult to interpret and easily misconstrued.

2. Never send a sarcastic email that could be taken out of context. Sarcasm and email do not mix. You can easily offend someone in an email without intent to do so.

3. Do not send email gossip. You never know where the email will end up. Just make a commitment to yourself not to participate in any gossip.

4. Never end significant relationships via email. Email is the equivalent of an electronic paper trail. Not good for any sour ending, whether business or personal.

5. If you don't want your boss or coworkers to see it, better not send that email from work.

6. Never put anything in writing that may come back to haunt you. A good overall policy. Not just for email.

7. Never, ever, hit ‘Reply to All’ when you just want to send an email to one individual.

8. Don’t email pictures of yourself to others. Especially, online acquaintances and complete strangers.

9. Don’t make promises or commitments via email that you cannot or will not keep.

10. When you send attachments, be sure that you have selected the correct files and documents.

11. Good advice from New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, “Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an email.”

12. Try BigString recallable email. If you do happen to make errors...the recallable, erasable, and non-forwardable features will help to correct such mistakes.

How to Build 10-Minute Affiliate Website Mashups

2007-12-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

If you are searching for ways to be innovative with your online marketing, then here is another plug for many of the ideas featured at 45n5.com authored by Mark Wielgus. No, this is not a paid post.

This is the good stuff, it's an addendum to the post on "30 Websites in 30 Days", and Mark calls this his YouTube-Ebay-Amazon Affiliate Website Mashup Thingy.

I have had a few email exchanges with Mark, and these are a few of his cautionary thoughts by way of how he has explained the ideas behind how it should work. Most people will not succeed with this mashup concept, or any other website scripting without the underlying concept and knowledge (or experience from learning) of how to build such a niche site.

Cranking out "out of the box" and rubber stamp solutions is what everybody else is doing. Doing the same thing that everyone else is doing online will bring the same results...which happens to be not making any money online. This also happens to mirror Einstein's theory of insanity, and he was no dummy. It's also making many people wealthy for some pretty worthless online information products.

So, if you use the script out of the box, most of your money will be made from luck or successful keyword research (aka) what words and topics you use to build these niche minisites in mass production.

Now is the time to learn. Take the time to consider doing it right. - Digital Nomad

A SOHO Reprise of Honest Riches System

2007-12-12T19:54:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

A 25 Year Old Entrepreneur Making a Living Online from Home

You probably have read about or heard of The Rich Jerk and Chis X of Day Job Killer. If not you better stop and do a Google search right now. About 2 years ago, Holly Mann, a young mother started to successfully market directly against high profile Internet marketing gurus like these guys.

Living in a foreign country with no job and few resources, Holly decided she could research, design, and deliver a kinder and gentler approach to online marketing. Evidently she found her niche selling "How-To" information, because she has become successful in a short period of time (well, a couple of years).

"Honest Riches 2" is a 95 page proven guide. Holly shows all the techniques she has used to make money online through affiliate programs starting with no website and no start-up money, then on to free websites that can easily be setup with little or no experience, including free advertising that most people don't know or think about.

Yes, it seems possible to make money online and work from home just about anywhere (Holly lives in Thailand), but don't quit your day job just yet. You need a system and you need the right tools and knowledge to be successful. Changing your career is a life altering decision.

Before taking the leap, do plenty of due diligence and adequate research for information and resources about starting an online business and becoming an online entrepreneur. This e-book is geared for beginners, but is a valuable resource for all online marketers. No "get-rich-quick" schemes here....like any real business endeavor, it involves some effort and some work. But you will learn strategies and techniques to start making money right away.

To read more about Holly Mann techniques and other online marketers, visit Thank You Holly Mann.

John Chow Calls It Quits on Agloco

2007-12-11T16:47:00.000-05:00

(Archive in: Weblogs and Business)

After many attempts at beating a dead horse, everyone involved in the Agloco fiasco can now uncross their fingers. It ain't gonna happen. Even John Chow has finally admitted defeat along with almost 30,000 signed up in his Agloco network.

Here is a partial screenshot of his last post on the subject, and here is a link to the post about the Agloco demise at TechCruch. Like John says...it shows that all those MBAs don't always muster up success, even the second time around. For posterity, watch the video on the Agloco viewbar attributes, and think about all the gurus that were on board for this.

How to Build 30 Websites in 30 Days

2007-12-11T15:51:00.000-05:00

(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

It may sound implausible, but it is not impossible. Follow this Digital Nomad and you know that just feeding the blogs is not going to cut it anymore. Blogging should be part of your online marketing network, but not a diversion.

I have been searching heavy for the folks that are making it online and not the wannabes. One such source is 45n5.com authored by Mark Wielgus. This guy tells it straight. You have to hunt an peck to find the good stuff, and you will have to piece it together, but I think a good start is on this website.

Mark will show you how to find a niche, create a website in 10 minutes, and then shove it in the pipeline with some SEO tricks. Theoretically, there is no reason why you could not do this everyday for a month and then have 30 minisites up and running for affiliate programs in thirty days. That's if you want to have a website between you and the merchant.

I am finding that you maybe don't even need a website to market affiliate programs, but you do have to commit to spending some money for Google Adword campaigns. Better have a pad and pen ready.

There is always something to learn. Take the time to learn something new each day. - Digital Nomad

Thinking Blog Celebrates First Year with A Free Laptop Giveaway

2007-11-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Anything that goes viral online can be fun to watch, but sometimes it's even more exciting if you are part of the effort with some skin in the game. The Thinking Blog will make you think about many different things, and it will also make you think about viral marketing with the chance to start the new year right with a new laptop computer as part of an online promotion.

You should know Ilker Yoldas as a website developer and graphic designer. Ilker is also a professional blogger. A great combination for promoting ideas and new products online.

The Thinking Blog celebrates its first anniversary with an online giveaway to help get a new product line of rugged computers noticed online and hopefully taking it viral. Few things work as good as "FREE", except maybe these two words combined: "FREE COMPUTER".

The giveaway rules from Ilker state, "To enter our giveaway, all you have to do is write about it in your blog. Ensure you have two links on your blog post, one link with rugged related keywords to RuffPC.com (e.g. "rugged computer", "water resistant laptop", "spill proof notebook", and the likes) and another link to this giveaway post."

With a worldwide entourage of blog buddies and faithful readers, some bloggers become the experts of online marketing by disclosing this online information by showing you what to do. "TTB" is in this category with over 1600 subscribed RSS readers and several thousand new and returning visitors to the blog each day.

To win the free laptop giveaway at The Thinking Blog you have to participate by writing a review in your own blog post. This promotion is being sponsored by Ruff PC, and the computer giveaway is worthy of your participation.

The computer is a brand new, rugged, water resistant laptop called the RuffBook Tech. This road-worthy laptop has a magnesium alloy case, and is built to survive the harshest conditions.

Stop reading about it in this post, and go read the complete entry rules at The Thinking Blog. Now go get your chance at owning a new rugged laptop before the end of 2007. Also, congratulate llker by leaving a comment or two on the blog.

Happy Anniversary! -Digital Nomad

Related Links:

www.thethinkingblog.com or email: ilker@thethinkingblog.com
Contact: Alan Shad, President: www.ruffpc.com
Telephone or email: sales@ruffpc.com

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

Stop Feeding Your Blogs with Endless Content

2007-11-13T14:17:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Social Media Optimization)

I wanted to make a quick update in reference to writing and submitting Pillar Articles to article directories vs. the chore of "Feeding Blogs" with endless content. This test is progressing nicely. I have submitted 5 pillar articles since about the middle of last month.

I know this is working, as I have been posting less to all the blogs I author in varying degrees as a test. This has not affected the blog traffic much at all. Traffic is actually improving, according to StatCounter and Alexa for two of the blogs that I author. One averaging over 10 page views per visitor at the time of this writing.

It may also be that I am now writing better, more focused content, since I do not feel pressured to try and post something every day for the sake of trying to post so frequently.

The five recent pillar articles have been downloaded for publication over 100 times in less than 30 days, and this is just for GoArticles. I periodically will submit similar articles to several of the more popular article directories.

OK. You can "stop feeding your blogs" now, and you also can stop making endless comments on popular blogs, trying to get made a "Fav" on Technorati, and otherwise making the meter go up on metrics that have much ado about nothing when it comes to quality traffic.

I think submitting to article directories will also create better traffic with better long-term and permanent links.

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

A Cheap Way to Secure Any Domain Dot Com

2007-11-05T14:57:00.000-05:00

(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Here is possibly a way to secure a domain name when you are in a hurry, and at the worst an extra free email account. You can use your own domain to create a personalized email address for you, a business, or anything else through an AOL service called My eAddress. You have up to 100 invites for others to get their own email address on your domain. The free service is called AOL My eAddress.

Just a few comments and cautions from the TOS. You have to give out quite a bit of personal information, like a valid cell phone number in the US or Canada. Additionally, if you use the "Bring your Own Domain" option, you can use any hosting company you like while using free email service from AOL. However, if you choose the "Popular Custom Domain" option, you will be stuck with AOL as the administrator for the domain, so you will not be able to host a website at that domain.

This could be a catch 22 for your future plans, so please read the "Terms of Service" carefully at AOL My eAddress.

Source: www.nofullstop.com

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

Planting Seeds with Pillar Articles

2007-10-30T16:25:00.000-05:00

(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Bouncing around the blogosphere, you may find that many of the well known bloggers are coming to the same conclusions that I already have. Get back to basics, don't worry about PR, Technorati, or Alexa ranking...and concentrate on traffic.

For some people this still means spending horrific amounts of time networking and hitting the social network scene. I am more convinced that writing pillar articles for submission to article directories is a much better approach.

This involves spending more time on research and organizing your thoughts far enough into the future to determine how you can approach a particular subject. You need to write for yourself, but you also need to write about things other people will have an interest in reading.

In many ways this is much better than the prospect of having to write posts just for the sake of writing a post. I know at many times people get a writing block, or just get bored, or even fed up with the notion that they have to "feed the blog" (I think I just coined a useful phrase).

Some of the additional rewards of pillar articles, is that your writing will be more involved and engaging, you will be building authority in one or more areas of personal interest or a niche, and you will be expanding your own knowledge base as you research and process information.

Additionally, you will have a greater chance of having your articles republished elsewhere on blogs and mentioned in references in such a manner that they are permanently linked back to your blogs and websites. Go plant some seeds for future traffic building, and resist the urge to "Feed the Blog".

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

Google Page Rank Drops Like A Rock for SEO Stars and Network Gamers

2007-10-25T10:05:00.000-05:00

(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

The Death of Page Rank! Everyone is complaining about their PR, or Google Page Rank dropping. I say, "Get over it and move on". As I wrote in a recent post about traffic strategy, it is becoming more obvious all the time that all these ranking metrics really prove is nothing...unless you want to post and brag about how you make the meters move.

Just like Technorati, or Alexa ranking, PR has little or nothing to do with traffic and successful marketing. Anything ill-gotten is just that, "ill-gotten". So, if you have spent months or years gaming the system, don't be surprised to see what your true worth might be in the Blogosphere and the Arpanet.

Take a deep breath, get back to work...and try to learn how to add value to your online projects and for your readers and visitors. Like the book says "Do What You Love, and The Money Will Follow."

I think that all this nonsense is amazing to the true online marketers that know how to push the buttons to make things really work. It once again boils down to Niche, Traffic, Monetization, with the actual "Product" bringing up the rear.

Maybe backwards of how the analog world works, but after all it is a "Market of One" when it come to the Internet and online marketing. Build a better mouse trap and you will be found.

Besides, you really can't toss rocks at Google for trying to plug holes in the dam by making the PR rank more honest. More fun for gamers, too, who just have a burning desire for shortcuts and beating the system.

Now we can all look forward to posts on new theories, new techniques, new ebooks, new widgets, new podcasts, new videos, new ezines, new seminars, new gurus, and new yearly conventions. Page Rank is alive and well, it just no longer is what it had become.

Apologies in advance for all the cliches. - Digital Nomad

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

What Do Your Phone Numbers Spell?

2007-10-21T10:23:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Related Miscellany)

It's the middle of the weekend, so no heavy thought riddled posts today. Just some fun and games to let your mind roam a little. Maybe this should become a habitual weekend exercise to post about. Find something that is lighthearted, but still interesting and write a quick post about it.

I have had this bookmarked for some time, and today finally tried out PhoneSpell.org. Oddly enough, my telephone number does not spell anything. What are the chances of that. I tried both 7-Digit and 10-Digit combinations. This is no joke. Mouseover and click to see larger in a new window.

Oh well, give PhoneSpell a link up and see what you come up with for your numbers. It may give you an idea for a new blog or domain name, jog your memory for a new marketing approach, or just make you laugh. Maybe we can resurrect the notion of the "enum" network.

Sometimes we just need some levity. While you are there, check out the Voice Nation link at the bottom, and help PhoneSpell pay some bills.

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

Article Directory Submissions vs. Frequent Blog Posting to Drive Traffic

2007-10-19T13:44:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Are you lost in the blogosphere? Tired of posting and timestamps? I have been doing some experimenting with the different blogs that I write, including analysis and research about blogs versus websites. This has involved researching the current methods to create traffic, which everyone and their brother has rehashed in posts and how-to SEO ebooks and seminars.

You know, like leaving comments on blogs, posting frequently, writing interesting posts, viral contests, linkbating, joining social networks, etc. These all do work. The caveat is that if you are using some of the monetization schemes that everyone writes about, you first have to have a presence with regard to a Techorati rank, and Alexa rank, or both to get in the game.

The long and the short is that both of these ranking systems have little to do with making money in my mind. I personally have no interest in PPP, PPC, PPA, or any of the advertising schemes that require tons of time and effort. It is a double edge razor blade in my opinion, because you have to spend an unbelievable amount of time socializing and creating backlinks. It also is why bloggers burn out fast.

Technorati is notoriously bad for not sending traffic. And get this...everyone that measures traffic knows that bloggers don't click on ads or text links. So what is the point of pandering to other bloggers in the blogosphere to get their traffic. Even Darren Rowse has recently admitted that Adsense income was no longer worth cluttering his Problogger blog up with ads.

I can almost guarantee that if you spend much of your time in forums and social networks to gain popularity, you will have little to show for it except some nice ranks and bragging rights. All this indicates that it's time to get back to the idea of selling a niche product or service (a real product that fills a need) using a static website and driving traffic to that website. That is what online marketing is about. By best accounts, only a few dozen bloggers make a full time living out of 100 million blogs. Not a very good business model if you ask me.

A good Technorati and Alexa rank may be giving you the illusion that you are successful. The same is true for frequent posting. I have deliberately cut back on posting to see what would happen. You guessed it...Technorati and Alexa ranks drop like a rock, and very quickly. The effort to maintain your rankings is an endless nightmare of posts to blogs, and posting comments to social networks and forums. It is like being a shark, stop swimming and you die.

I am beginning to think a better approach is to use your blogging as part of a network traffic strategy to create desirable traffic. I also am going back to writing "pillar articles" for article directory submission. These end up as permanent links and keep on giving for years to come.

There are only four things that matter in online marketing, and they are in this order of importance:

1. Niche
2. Traffic
3. Monetization
4. Product

Notice that the product is the least important thing. Unless, you just write for kicks or the truly original purpose of blogging...to keep a journal, my money is on investing time online that will produce recurring revenue and better return on your investment of both time and money.

What are your thoughts or experience?

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

Consider Buying A Rugged Laptop

2007-10-18T13:49:00.000-05:00

Author: John Smith

If You Work in Difficult Conditions, Then A Rugged Laptop
May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

Rugged laptops are not cheap, you may know that already since you are interested in them. And they also don't come with the same configuration as the other commercial laptops you may be used to. What you get instead with a rugged laptop, is the possibility and flexibility to work in a lot of tough locations on difficult weather. That is the real value of a rugged laptop, value that earns all the money you may have paid for it.

If you work in a place where you find one of the below listed conditions, then you should really consider buying a rugged laptop:

Liquid All Over (including on your rugged laptop)

Rugged laptops have sealed keyboards that won't let the water or any other liquid to seep inside. Also, the ports that you will find on a ruggedized laptop are usually protected by efficient covers that keep the liquid away from connectors so you won't experience any unpleasant situations in wet environments.

Strong and Persistent Vibrations

Rugged laptops were designed with this issue in mind, they have strong components, a hard drive that resists to strong vibrations, things that commercial laptops don't do. Put a normal laptop in a vibrating environment and you may have the surprise of loosing data. Not with a rugged laptop.

They are also tested for...

Drops, Drops, Drops

During a work day you may drop your rugged laptop more than once. You should know that all the components inside it are strong and tested to withstand a strong impact: CPU, hard drive, optical devices, etc. The rugged laptop case is also strong not easy to break.

Electromagnetic Fields

Commercial notebooks won't perform well near an electromagnetic area such as radio transmissions, power generators, etc. A rugged laptop was actually designed to work in such environments, environments where commercial notebooks may actually stop working.

About the author:
John Smith is the editor of MagicLaptop.com. Read the complete guide on "How To Buy A Rugged Laptop"
www.MagicLaptop.com

Understanding SOHO Shoutouts

2007-09-29T14:38:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Do you have a list of bloggers you like and want to recognize? This is what my Saturday Shoutouts project is all about.

This is where I give people a mini review as a mention in a weekly post, and then Stumble, Netscape, use other bookmarks, and write a few comments to their blog posts.

This week will be fairly brief with four bloggers instead of the targeted five blogs I attempt to call out each Saturday afternoon. Charlene is recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month by doing a pink overhaul at her Casual Keystrokes blog. Scott is happy to be an S.O.B. at Finding Your Marbles (great name for a blog). Then David points out the marketing value of YouTube in a post on Social Media Optimization, and there is Ilker at The Thinking Blog, who is always thinking for us.

Leave a comment and let me know what you are up to with your blogging efforts.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Review of SOHO Phone Guide

2007-09-29T13:32:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Doing a recent search on "SOHO", the obvious acronym for Small Office/Home Office (assuming that you are not from New York City), I came across this website for the SOHO Phone Guide.

It is a good example of "soft selling" and using what looks like a free consumer information guide to steer readers to a commercial enterprise. In this case, a shameless plug for Onebox. In my early marketing days before the days of the Internet, this may have also been referred to as an advertorial. A thinly disguised attempt at making an advertisement look like editorial content.

In this case the marketing message may be useful for those that are lazy, or perhaps less adept a putting some of the free online telephony solutions together for use in there small business adventures.

I was a Onebox early adopter when it first came online, and prior to it becoming a paid service. All-in-all, still a good option for those willing to pay a monthly fee for unified messaging and a one number follow-me type telephone service.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutout Roundup

2007-09-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Once again time to acknowledge new friends and blogs worthy of note and interest. As is the new twist, you should get 3-4 extra links from being mentioned in my Saturday Shoutouts. Not sure why, but Shoutwire was being obstinate last week. That bookmark has been replaced with a bonus link. You also get a few comment or two on your blog and another Stumble for being picked.

This week we have Patrick from Top Secret Blogger and advice about staying on topic, John the Cow man is proud of his new look at John Cow Dot Com, and thoughtful design with Dawud at DawudMiracle. Round it out with what's up about music and cats at Wtfzup, plus Wendy at the new eMoms at Home (and Dads with Dawud again).

As might be expected, I too need the favors of social media networking, and those beloved comments on my personal blogs at the links that follow. -Digitalnomad

The SOHO Quest
Digital Nomads
The Sovereign Journey
The Rugged Notebooks Blog

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

TokBox Alternatives to Video Messaging

2007-09-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Technology in Plain English)

Here are a few other online Video Messaging systems I should have mentioned in my last post about TokBox. Everyone that uses the tried and true Skype will know that they have video capability. Other contenders are OoVoo.com, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and many others I don't care to mention or promote.

Festoon,Inc. had a plug-in for video chat that supposedly worked with both Skype and Google Talk, but the free download is no longer available (website www.festooninc.com domain expired 8-30-07) .

The best of the lot is said to be SightSpeed. Below are two promotional screenshots from the Skype and SightSpeed websites to give you an idea if what to expect.

Sorry to say that I am behind on my testing, and hope to report my personal findings in the near future. No doubt that as telephones and computers continue to converge there will be more "Talk-and-See" options, just like predicted in the Dick Tracy comics and Flash Gordon movies from the 1930s.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

TOK While You Chat and Alternative Talk Online with TokBox

2007-09-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Technology in Plain English)

This was noted on Jimmy Huen's Blog some time ago last month, and I must admit I was intrigued. Also a little bit embarrassed as I did not have a video camera to test it out. I finally ran out and bought a camera (still in the box).

I do fancy free or near free telephony and communication solutions, and probably will end up building my own private network one way or another. The idea of video chat will certainly figure into those plans. I want to be able to at least have this capability with a rugged laptop and some wireless solutions when on the road.

I still have not had a chance to test TOKBOX, but wanted to at least post about it, and then I can come back and do an update. Michael Arrington at TechCrunch also has said some nice things about it.

"While there are plenty of video chat products out there on the market, including Skype, most of them require at least some software download to the computer. Something about the simplicity of TokBox, which is entirely a web application, suggests it might get very popular very fast."

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutouts On A Cool September Day

2007-09-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Here are some Saturday Shoutouts featuring new blog buddies that are always there when you need them. These blogging bright spots help to boost the morale of those around them. There are many, so this will be the first of several posts.

I also want to thank you with these extra links. For this post we have Liz from Successful Blog Dot Com and her well known SOB promotion, Agent Sully at Life Learning Today, Loren with his always interesting Search Engine Jounal, Sujan and Single Grain Dot Com, plus Charlene with some essential info at her Essential Keystrokes Blog.

As an added bonus I also have cast some Reddit votes, Shoutwire (or something else special) for individual posts I have read on your sites. I hope this gets you some extra juice to your blogs.

Should you be inclined to return the favor, I have listed embedded links to all of my personal blog endeavors below to make it easy. Thanks for being there.

The SOHO Quest
Digital Nomads
The Sovereign Journey
The Rugged Notebooks Blog

Leaving a comment or two on my blogs is also always appreciated. -Digitalnomad

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Everything in the Known Universe about Technorati-Illuminati

2007-09-12T11:45:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

Well not quite everything. I had not updated this blog since sometime in August until today. In the process of checking my stats on Technorati I came across this anomaly.

As you can see from these screenshots taken today, I have two Technorayi scores. One says that this blog is in the Top 10K with a rank of 7,680, and the other screenshot shows this blog ranked at nearly twice that number with a rank 14,659. This descrepency occurs by clicking on different links within the Technorati UI.

I actually discovered something was wrong when I was checking the stats for JaKelDaily.com. I usually make the top comments there each month, and keep tabs on Jason. I new something was awry, because Technorati shows Jason's blog with an authority of "1" (-1-) and a rank of 3,915,745. Statistic that keep getting worse instead of better.

Many people get bent out of shape over Technorati stats and the ranking system, and for some good reasons. This is why I have in the past called Technorati the Illuminati of the Blogosphere.

Very mysterious, very secret...and probably part of a worldwide blog conspiracy. Just joking! This has to be part of an update glitch. Let me know your thoughts, and if you have had similar experiences.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Just What Are Archives and How Important Are They to Your Blog?

2007-09-12T09:15:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

"Archives", or archiving for most blog platforms is something that for the most part happens automatically in the background with no action or "command" necessary for it to take effect. This is similar to auto-save. New bloggers can simply read about it when starting a new blog, set up their archive preferences...and then forget it.

First let's look at the concept of a "blog archive". As you might expect, it simply means a system to file or store blog posts for future reference. Since blogs were first written and intended to be more or less online personal journals, blog posts naturally were first archived in a reverse chronological order.

This makes some sense, as anyone reading your blog for the first time would probably want to read the current or most recent post. This submission would then be auto-archived by first the day, then the week, and then the month, and eventually the year.

Most blogging platforms display the archives in a sidebar, with some ability for you to control how the archives are listed, and how these lists are displayed to readers.

Anyone that has been blogging for any length of time, probably refers to their archives on a regular basis without thinking much about it. This comes in handy when you are linking to a past post as an update, for reference to create deep linking for SEO purposes, or as a continuation of a series for a particular subject of your blogging niche.

The beauty of blog archives is that you really don't have to think about them once you set up your preferences, but they are always there. This is not much different than the concept of doing automatic backups of your important computer files for permanent media storage.

It is easy to just think of a blog archive as a record of your blog posts for long-term or permanent storage for future reference. For a fairly complete glossary of current blogging terms visit The Giant Blogging Terms Glossary. "Archives" is listed there under the subhead of "Blog Components and Functions".

This post is part of a Link and Blog Dot Com project to list 40 common blog terms as defined by bloggers in their own words. That list is still being posted and updated at this link for L&B Glossary.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Afternoon Shoutouts Mid August 2007

2007-08-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Here are some Saturday Shoutouts for a few people that have been helping out behind the scenes. Some are new acquaintances, but all are working most notably behind the scenes in some networking efforts, or new business venture.

You know who you are and what you do, and for that I say thanks with these linkbacks. So here we go...there is Salmon from Webtechlog, Ray at Freshblogger, Thomas with his Photography from Norway, Mark with the Zimbie Project, Noor from My Journey to Recovery, Derek the VoIP Professor, and Wayne and his Tip of the Iceberg.

As a bonus and a tip from Saman, I also have Stumbled your sites. Hope it give you some Juice.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Shoutouts - New Blogs and Some New Friends

2007-07-28T14:16:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

I can't say enough about Facebook and how I think it is one of the better and more valuable Social Networks. Join Facebook if you have not already, and visit my Digital Nomad profile.

Saturday Shoutouts continue with quick reviews of some of the more interesting blogs that I have been frequenting.

Everday Weekender is one blog that I keep seeing the avatar for either on MyBlogLog or BlogCatalog. I like the idea of an Everyday Weekend, and weekend food recipes, too.

The Career Strategist keeps popping up around the blogosphere as well. Ev is preparing for the PR update with some linking strategy. I see here all around in the networks.

Jeff Kee has become a new online confidant and has some solid new business ideas with the growth of his Jeff Kee Companies and Synchronous Design and Marketing. I think Jeff is resting up from his marathon trip to Costa Rica on covert Canadian Government business.

Too round things out, I have found Inner 88 a useful stop to read some quick reviews. As the subhead says, "Reviewing the Internet so you don't have to". Is it proper to end a sentence with a preposition?

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Early Adopters for New Internet Revenue Model

2007-07-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Jimmy Huen, owner of the Founders Cafe blog, a website about Internet Entrepreneur and Business, including Money Making Ideas. is recording the entire process of a new Internet Startup in real time.

Current marketing efforts include a link and an early registration to a new revenue sharing model for bloggers that write a short review like this post. Follow the link to "Jimmy Huen's Internet Startup". for explicit instructions on how to participate.

This could be a ground floor opportunity for Small Office-Home Office and Biz Op seekers. Following are some of the early adopters for the program:

Priority 1 - Internet Startup Entrepreneur and Money Making Ideas:

If you join this program, post only the Priority One list from this page!

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Six Degrees of Separation - Saturday Shoutouts

2007-07-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

They say (whomever they is) that there are only "Six Degrees of Separation" between any two individuals in this world, also described as the average path length in social networking.

It's an interesting concept "they" are out to confirm, and social network Facebook Dot Com just may be the proof in the pudding. It also is the subject of this week's SOHO shoutouts and a chance to do some name dropping. I joined Facebook today on the separate invitations of John Cow from the parody of the John Chow blog and Phil Butler from Read Write Web.

The Facebook Network: The Famous and Not So Famous

Just to test the small world theory, I bounced around Facebook for a few hours today to see who I know that might know someone else of note. It's amazing, but I have online friends that socialize with the likes of Andy Beard, Richard MacManus, Guy Kawasaki, Darren Rowse, Michael Arrington, and even Jimmy Wales.

If you do not know any of these folks you need to go back to Internet 101. Some of their profiles on Facebook are private, so here are some related links listed below.

Andy Beard
Richard MacManus
Guy Kawasaki
Darren Rowse
Michael Arrington
Jimmy Wales

I can already count 2 or 3 of these A-Listers as Facebook friends. The power of online social networks is pretty amazing to say the least.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutouts - Return of the Z List

2007-07-14T11:37:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Sometimes it's good to go back to the original source. Not just to learn, but also for inspiration. This week's shout out deals with Mack Collier and his original list for the viral exercise posted as "Revenge of the Z-Lister".

Not to slight Maki at Dosh Dosh, or anyone else that has propagated the list from late last year, however, I thought it would be fun to list the original "Z LIST". Have at it and see what happens. I do not believe any of these bloggers are any longer considered "Z" listers anyway.

The rules are simple and you may have already played...but here goes again. For a look at an older word play on this visit Bloggers from the A-List to Z-List.

How to Participate in the Return of the Z List.

Here are the exact steps you need to follow in order to join Return of the Z List.

Create a new post on your blog.
Copy and Paste the entire list of blog links below.
Add any blogs that you want to include near the top of the list. (This isn’t compulsory, add as many blogs as you want or none at all.)
Include the blog where you first got the list from, on the list in your post.
Do not include your own blog links on the list in your post.
Make sure that all links point to each blog’s homepage.
Publish the Post.

Here's my list (cut and paste to your blog, add as many blogs as you want):

My Additions:
The Viral Garden
Dosh Dosh by Gosh
Founders Cafe
Samanathon Dot Com
Jakel Daily
Jeff Kee Companies
Daily Web Ideas aka Jane May Blogs
Untwisted Vortex

Mack Collier's Original Z List:
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

3 Days Left to Save the Internet

2007-07-12T13:01:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT TO SAVE THE WEB. Have you done your part?

FOLLOW THE LINKS listed below NOW to take action in this last ditch effort:

Public Urges FCC to Protect Net
FCC Commissioner Takes Stand
See How 100 Senators Stand
Sign The Petition
Call Elected Officials
Tell five Friends

For information and implications of the the upcoming FCC auction of the 700 MHz spectrum, visit Net Neutrality post at RuggedNotebooksBlog and The Thinking Blog Under Attac k.

Squidoo Linkfest and Google Rank May Wane

2007-07-12T12:16:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

The much touted use of Squidoo Lenses as a method of boosting traffic and page rank may be a thing of the past. As widely reported, lenses were known to achieve quick indexing and were a boon for driving traffic to blogs and websites through various linking schemes.

Not so anymore according to "Squidoo Slap", and Frost Fire Buzz Dot Com. Follow updates at both of these blogs for possibile reasons why this may have happened and for any remedies that may be realized.

The DM had tested this early on and had continued to create lenses as a quick way to build referral links. Can't say for sure if it helped, but know that it certainly did not hurt in my SOHO Quest.

Ideas like this are often promoted by up-an-coming bloggers, however, also are sometimes discouraged as skewing the true popularity of a blog or website. Some folks would even call it gaming the system. It can't really be considered Black Hat, but nevertheless is frowned upon as a way to unfairly influence SERPs.

Eight Factoids about Digital Nomad

2007-07-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Design Weblogs and Business)

I was tagged by Saman at Samanathon Dot Com for this, who had been tagged by Shawn Knight, Natron, Bobs and 2Perfect. Memes can overwhelm, but I think this is worthwhile as a way to tell on myself in a few ways that I would not normally do.

This Is How It Works:

Each player must post these rules first.
Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to tag and list their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

There Is Nothing Here You Absolutely Need To Know:

I have not had a "real job" for most of my adult life.
I interviewed President Jimmy Carter for a video documentary.
I have almost died twice. (Once by drowning / Once by bee stings)
I pushed Robert Redford out of the snow in front of his ranch in Utah.
I was president of my high school graduation class.
I have been close to homeless several times.
I had a conversation with Walter Cronkite over cocktails at a bar in New York.
A poster I designed is in the permanent archives of the Bauhaus Museum.

The sites that I’m Tagging:

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutouts - 7.7.07 Events

2007-07-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Shoutouts for 7.7.07 Events

Well, today is a unique date for this week's Shout outs. The seventh day of the seventh month of 2007. Today you can do crazy things like get group married with other lucky brides and grooms in Vegas, win $777 worth of pizza (see Lucky 7 post at KShippyChic), or watch Al Gore save the world on Live Earth.

No harm in signing up for the 7-Point Pledge if you believe we are warming things up, or you you think this is all nonsense, just enjoy the music (some reliable sources on the opposing view).

Other shoutouts today are a revisit to Jane May blogs who has re-dubbed her blog "Daily Web Ideas" (still a current favorite), and the new and crazy "John Cow Dot Com" for some levity. This is terrific parody stuff on the Chow's site down to the mirror image of blue cows. Have fun!

PS - I have it on good authority that John Chow Dot Com really is being redesigned by Ilker after his online offer from 4 months ago. You heard it here first. Let's see if it pans out.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutouts - Saturday June 30, 2007

2007-06-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Weblogs and Business)

"SOHO Shoutouts" this Saturday recognizes a few more bloggers and blogs that I have been spending time frequenting lately. I also make comments on these sites to the tune of usually being a top commenter.

Jane May Blogs is one blog I have been following because it deals with steps to be more successful at blogging. Jane is personable, knowledgeable, and also answers just about all questions posed in the comments.

Two more shoutouts for this week also deal with being successful online. I have struck up a friendship with Rob Cooke at Leave The Office. I like this blog because Rob has a similar outlook on life and has similar online goals. This blog has recently been re-purposed.

The last mention this week is Tammara Nelson at Link and Blog. Tammara is very serious about her blogging, but always has time to help people with her experience and advice (she also runs the LinkandBlogChallenge.com).

Three more bloggers that provide solid writing and some inspiration to others, because they are taking their blogging seriously...but still having fun.

Visit and leave some comments on these blogs, (return to this blog) and make some comments here as to what you think of the shoutouts for this Saturday.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutouts-Save The Internet Links

2007-06-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Save Open Spectrum and Network Neutrality

These are such important issues and few people are standing up or raising their hands to be counted. I have already written two posts about this on other blogs, so there is no reason to do much more than to make a list of important links and hope that somehow you will do your small part.

The Quote below from Savetheinternet.com is included to frame the situation.

"The FCC is on the verge of turning over a large chunk of the public airwaves to the same giant phone and cable companies that control high-speed Internet access for 96 percent of American home users."

Read Friday Freedom Links and The 700 MHz Auction for related posts. Visit the links listed below for details on how you can give meaning to this shoutout.

Sign The Petition
Call Elected Officials
Support with Your Blog
Tell five Friends

Note: The most important immediate action is to pass this information on to others using the last link to send email to five or more friends or associates. - Digital Nomad

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Who Has Bragging Rights to iPhone Name...

2007-06-23T10:25:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Social Media Marketing)

...and other iName factoids?
Found this information posted over at BobMeetsWorld and thought it looked like fun. Next week the Apple iPhone will finally be available. Bob's post is entertaining with the iName gadget, and informative with a reminder on a chance to win Apple iPhone for free.

I created the "iBeDigital" graphic for this post with the "iName Tool".

Here is something that is not getting much play in the media. Did you know that there are several companies that are using the name "IPhone"? It looks like Cisco had a pretty good claim to the trademark with the Linksys VoIP iPhone, and there even was a lawsuit pending with Apple that has evidently been settled out of court (see ZDnet.com or Newsroom.Cisco.com.

What follows is an outstanding and hilarious quote from industry analyst Roger Kay in a previous CNet article on the whole affair:

"This was just brass balls on the part of Steve (Jobs), to go in there and just grab that trademark and not pay a license for it or negotiate. It's the height of arrogance," Kay said. "He basically thinks he can get away with it."

Like my favorite line from an old gangster movie, "Money makes you do bad things".

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Saturday Shoutouts on A Sunday Afternoon

2007-06-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Oh the joys of computers and blogs. The Nomad has been recovering from computer ills. Not to worry, since this has encouraged me to start clean by dumping everything on the HDD and starting over.

If you are a frequent reader, then you know of my push for being free and thinking free. I finally am at the point of using only Shareware, Open Source, and Online Applications. I will tell you that I do not miss MS...and everything is working just fine. A future series of software specific posts will be made at The Digital Nomads Blog, as I make some final decisions.

I am, however, behind on posting to my blogs. My speed linking has gotten behind, as evidenced by the title of this belated post.

Today we are taking a tour of some "work-at-home" blogs specific to Dads. After all...it is Father's Day. The mommy bloggers are everywhere, so I thought it fitting to plug the guys and create some links for a few father figures. As always, pay these blogs a visit and come back here for comments...much appreciated.

Men at Home - Join Neighborhood
Work at Home Profits - Join Neighborhood
Daddy Place Dot Com - Join Neighborhood
Stay at Home Dad - Join Neighborhood

PS - Better yet, take the time to join the social network Blogcatalog and join their blog "neigborhoods" with the second links above. - Digital Nomad

Viraltags Matrix Variation on Viralinks Traffic Builder

2007-06-15T22:13:00.000-05:00

The interwebs are all about collaborating. Jimmy Huen took a good idea and made it into a better one. Some time ago, Andy Coates, started a link building program dubbed viralinks. It has been successful for bloggers to help each other build links.

This link experiment uses an easy way to know what anchor text other bloggers want on the matrix, and should make it more viral? This matrix uses anchor text/tags of your choice, and is called the “ViralTags” matrix.

****** Important Update from Jimmy Huen: I have been noticing that some bloggers did not update the “Host Tag” after they copy and paste the Viraltags matrix. If you are one of them, please update the “Host Tag” with the anchor text you want for your blog and its URL.

The main idea of this tagging program is to allow others that got pinged by you to easily go to your site, and copy your updated “Host Tag” anchor text and URL and paste them into their ViralTags matrix. Not everyone will bother to try to let you know to change your Host Tag like I do. I’ve spent some time to notify those that didn’t update, but it can be a hassle. If you follow the instructions listed below exactly, it’ll make everything easier and clearer for everyone. Thanks for your participation!

========= Copy and Paste below this line ==========

Instructions:

Important Update - Please read here!

1.) Copy and paste the matrix of “ViralTags” below courtesy of Founders Cafe (to support Jimmy’s quest of launching his own Internet Startup with a shoestring budget, please consider subscribing to his Full RSS Feed.

2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the “Viral Tags” in the matrix with your anchor text of choice with your blog’s URL. Please keep anchor text to a max of 3 words to keep the matrix size manageable.

3.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their “Viral Tags”, practice good karma by copying his/her Host Tag’s anchor text (automatically the associated link will also be copied) and paste it over one of your “Viral Tags” below. Don't worry...we all can add more tag spaces as this grows.

4.) Encourage and invite your readers to do the same and soon this will continue to grow virally.

Host Tag: The SOHO Quest

Important: Once I get a ping back from you (I promise to do the best I can), I will add your anchor text and the associated link you designate as “Host Tag” here, replacing one of the “ViralTags” from the matrix above. As more and more bloggers copy and paste this matrix, the more backlinks you will have with your anchor text. If everybody who copy and paste from your blog does the same, pretty soon this will spread and go viral. So, the sooner you participate, the more links with anchor text you will receive.

======== Copy and Paste from Above this line ========

This should help you improve your Technorati ranking, SERP and Google PR. Please leave comment here if you have copied from this matrix so that I can add you just in case your ping back didn’t reach me. Technorati sometimes take a longtime to ping back.

How John Chow, Digital Nomad and Others Made the RSS Mass Feed List

2007-06-04T10:01:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Weblogs and Business)

RSS Mass Feed Experiment Follow-up

Viral marketing has been around forever, even before the advent of the world wide web, and the early days of the Internet when Hotmail was introduced as a free web-based email service using the power of this technique to gain subscribers. Viral marketing is a catch phrase for word-of-mouth promotion, and more recently has been re-dubbed simply “buzz”.

Dr. Ralph Wilson, the noted Internet Marketer and owner of wilsonweb.com describes viral marketing as having six central attributes paraphrased here as: 1. Something Free 2. Easily Transferable 3. Scalable 4. Motivates Action 5. Uses Common Networks 6. Employing Other’s Resources. These are all perfectly suited to the concept of social networking.

Now comes the blogosphere, IM, IMO, SMM, and a host of new traffic building concepts. A blog without traffic is like the proverbial tree falling in the woods without an audience. Nobody will hear about it, let alone read about it. If you are new to Internet Marketing, then you may know how frustrating this can be.

Similar to the well-known real estate marketing premise of “Location, Location, Location”, online marketing has three important components. “Traffic, Traffic, and Traffic”.

Blogging, Creating Traffic, and Traffic Rank

Now, bloggers, including the famous and the up-and-coming bloggers, keep experimenting and redefining viral marketing and the art of gaming SEO and the ranking services like Alexa and Technorati. Yes, it still is kind of like the Wild West when it comes to online marketing. Some purists will view this as gaming the system, but without traffic there is no point in being online.

Recently the popular blog, Dosh Dosh Dot Com, was smacked down by several readers for introducing the "Ultimate Technorati Favorites Exchange". This brings us to new levels of viral experimenting at the invention of Jimi Morrison at www.jimimorrisonshead.com with the “RSS Feed Subscriber Campaign”(join and return to this post).

No sense reading all the details here, since you will have to visit a participating website to copy and implement the simple instructions (return to this post). It does require a cut and paste post to your blog that should take you all of 5-10 minute at the most to execute.

Viral marketing will always be with us no matter the message or medium. Make sure you take advantage and place it in your marketing arsenal. I made the RSS Mass Feed List from networking with Jimi Morrison from almost the first week that I started the social network scene. If you don’t know who John Chow is and how he made the list, you need to do a search on his name with any major search engine right now.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Juice RSS Feeds with A-List Bloggers in the Making

2007-05-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Weblogs and Business)

You may have seen this done with Technorati Favs at Dosh Dosh and with other lists by other bloggers. Now, many thanks to Jimi Morrison dreaming up a train for RSS feeds. Carefully follow the instructions below and see how it helps your blog traffic. Don't try to cheat by not actually subscribing to the RSS feeds listed. Also, take the time to learn something new by learning how to use an OPML file, as described below.

So Jimi says, "Let's get right to the meat and potatoes and describe the rules".

***Start Copying Here***

1. Create a post and link back to the person that put you on the list in the first paragraph with a brief thank you and description of why people want to use the campaign. DO NOT copy their paragraph. Write your own unique one and link to their site.

2. Copy the ENTIRE list of Feeds and create an OPML File to import into your feed readers so that you can subscribe to all of the blogs on the list. You will want to read my post entitled Mass RSS Feed Subscribing with an OPML so you understand how to do it. (You will want to copy this link over to your post so those you add know how to do this too.)

3. Copy the ENTIRE list of Feeds AND blogs and put them into your post like they are here. Move the “My Adds” from the blog that added you into the “Originals” lists for each. This list is unique because I want you to be able to copy the feeds with out having to delete the blogs before making the OPML file so I separated the two links into 2 lists.

4. Add any blogs you want to the list with whatever keywords you want. Then get their RSS Feed and add those to the list of Feeds in your “My Adds” section.

5. Publish your post.

6. Comment on the post that originated the list here so that new additions can be subscribed to as well by the lists before yours.

My Blog Adds:

JaKelDaily.com
DidYouSmellThat.com

Original Blogs:

Whatever I Feel Like
Tricia’s Musings
Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot
A bit of this and a bit of that
Wordpress Plugins
Internet Serious Business
Julie’s Journal
Utterly Geek
jon lee
Pencil Thin
No Average Mom
Marisa’s Dandelion Patch
Scribble on the Wall
The Sovereign Journey
Digital Nomads
msdanielle
Mr. Gary Lee
Windows Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
Get a First Class Degree
SiteLogic Web Development
Geeky Speaky
Little America
Celeb News
John Chow

My RSS Feed Adds:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/jakeldaily/eEgQ
http://didyousmellthat.com/feed/

Original RSS Feeds:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/WhateverIFeelLike
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TriciasMusings
http://feeds.feedburner.com/u-g-h
http://feeds.feedburner.com/botbot
http://feeds.feedburner.com/JmhTechtronics
http://feeds.feedburner.com/InternetSeriousBusiness
http://www.juliesjournal.com/feed
http://www.utterlygeek.com/feed
http://feeds.feedburner.com/jonlee/
http://www.noaveragemom.com/?feed=rss2
http://www.pencilthin.com/?feed=rss2
http://www.mydandelionpatch.com/feed/
http://www.scribbleonthewall.com/feed/
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSovereignJourney
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalNomads
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Msdanielle-JustAnotherEgoBlogSite
http://feeds.feedburner.com/MrGaryLee
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Samanathon
http://www.geekyspeaky.com/feed
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Littleamericaus
http://www.sitelogic.co.uk/feed/
http://www.howtogetafirst.co.uk/feed/
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SirPostsEntertainmentBlog
http://feeds.feedburner.com/JohnChowDotCom

***Stop Copying Here***

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Submit Your Articles to 30,000+ Internet Publishers All at Once

2007-05-23T15:53:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

One of the best ways to drive traffic to blogs and websites is to write and submit articles to many of the online article publishing resources. I continue to do testing on article submissions and can attest to the fact that it does work. This is part of a more complicated social media marketing strategy that is too involved to explain in a single post.

In fact, ebooks have already been written about it, and this is definitely essential in your marketing efforts, and right up there with the need to make frequent posts. Article writing in combination with press release campaigns, free online classified ads, making relevant comments to popular blogs, and participating in forums, will all help to get your online endeavors noticed in the social networks and help build repeat traffic and back links.

Jason Neuman recently wrote an article on a article submission website that automates the process to over thirty thousand publishers (articlesender.com) with a one step submission process. I know from past experience that article submission does work as a free and easy way to market online. At this point in time...content is king, and for the foreseeable future everyone needs new and original content.

Plus, articles get reprinted over and over, passed around, linked back to…and seem to stay indexed close to forever in the SEs (blog carnivals are great, too).

You do have to make sure that people give you credit and a byline. Several times by accident I have come across my articles reprinted without proper credit, and sometimes paraphrased to make it look as if it is new and original content.

My ultimate goal is to use my blog network as part of a referral and linking strategy to build traffic to small niche mini-sites that generate passive income from either my own information products, or affiliate products.

This is all part of taking your time to build a brand for yourself and becoming recognized for having authority in a particular area. My personal research indicates the concept of Social Media Marketing (SMM), and Social Media Optimization (SMO) is still being defined and is yet to be utilized, or even recognized by mainstream corporate types (The key word here is "yet").

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Sniffing Out "Did You Smell That Dot Com"

2007-05-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

I am not a fan of MLM, Network Marketing, or any other term you may come up with to describe top heavy pyramid schemes. The reason is that I feel it has been proven that in the end most people are scammed and fleeced of their time and money. There is no hidden secret that you can buy in an ebook, a monthly online subscription, or for an entry fee to a network marketing program.

This is not to say there is no value in learning something from the MLM marketing crowd (please don't flood me with comments on the virtues of MLM to convert me).

This is important to me, because it seems to be the hotbed of so many "Make Money Online" programs that are touted on the interwebs. I have spent the better part of the last week evaluating my progress, or "quest" to determine and fulfill my desire to create viable and honest online business ventures.

The problem is that when you are spending time reading and researching, you automatically get behind in posting. Possibly even questioning what you should be posting about.

I recently was nominated by Jason Neuman at JaKelDaily for a blogger contest as one of The Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007. Not the main point of this post, but it did lead me to find and read a guest post on his blog by Dave Ledoux.

This guy is way interesting. I immediately found Ledoux's blog, writing style, and marketing insight of interest. This brings me back to MLM. Dave evidently made all his money in MLM, a business model I detest and do not recommend.

However, on second glance, my message is that Dave has lots to offer in terms of personal experience and knowledge from being a long-time Internet marketer and pioneer. So, I decided not to sneer at the end result, but rather dive in to see what I could learn to apply to other online business models.

The blog is Did You Smell That Dot Com. Follow the link for the Intern Marketing Program being offered for Free, give it a try and let me know what you think.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz

2007-05-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Design Weblogs and Business)

Some folks are saying that BlogCatalog is easier to use and has more potential as a social networking tool than MyBlogLog. After reading a recent pm from Mona, I spent a few days playing and experimenting more with BlogCatalg. It is user friendly, easier on the eyes, and probably is less spammy in nature than MBL.

I joined both MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog about the same time, but like many people for some reason gravitated to using MBL the most. Many of my communities and friends are the same for both networks, but I do think there is merit in belonging to both and others like Ziki and Zimbio.

This post is part of a power experiment for members of BlogCatalog to reach out and give this site more link love and exposure. Read about it at iwebis, write a quick post, create a few links and let's see what happens.

Incidentally, I joined the iwebis.com community on MyBlogLog, too. Mona, how about a little more info on your profile?

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

SOHO Shoutouts for Saturday May 12, 2007

2007-05-10T16:24:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

"Saturday Shoutouts for SOHOs" is comprised this week of blogs and bloggers from some of my frequented social networking sites.

These are folks that I read for the fact they have either good information to share, good writing styles, or both. I think most of these bloggers also are making some online income, or have a definite plan to do so.

Yang-May of Zen Guide for sure is a professional writer in England (has been published, as in books) and the Zen Guide is a guide about writing blogs. Both of her blogs are also well designed.

Jason at Ja Kel Daily Dot Com seems to have a formula that he is following to create an online income from blogging for the future. I often drop by his blog and make comments. Jason lives in Belgium and works in IT.

Last is a buddy from MyBlogLog, Roy (screen name esofthub). Roy has several blogs that deal with tech. Roy is living in Korea working in the computer field. He has a blog that is being primed for ad sales, but now is open for free classified ads at Free Ad Lists.

Support these bloggers and maybe learn something (return to this post). Your comments and suggestions are always greatly appreciated.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

More on Clipmarks 2.0.4 / Less-Is-More Blogging Tool

2007-05-10T15:47:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Related Miscellany)

Clipmarks lets you clip the best parts of the Interwebs. Whether it's a paragraph, sentence, image or video, you can capture just the pieces you want without having to bookmark the entire page.

Save your clips privately or publicly, email to friends, or post them directly to a blog. The new ClipSearch feature selects searches based on matching keywords inside the content that is clipped, as well as tags, titles, and descriptions that are added. In effect, by clipping the best parts of Web pages, you build a personal search engine for the things that matter to you. Just one of many new search tools.

Note: Paraphrased from a Clipmarks clip. -Digital Nomad

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Online Usability of the Many Up and Coming Search Engine Models

2007-05-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

Some attention is being given to things other than Google. Hakia, Snap, and even Clipmarks, are just a few of the newer search tools that are getting noticed for good reason. Snap has been used in the Digital Nomad blogs. It is an easy way to search and bookmark topical information.

Much hope is also out there for new SE competition from the likes of Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia fame and a Wiki-type search engine. Search Wikia is not the final result, and the project originally was promoted as Wikiasari (see "Wikiasari-Wikipedia Founder launching a Google Rival") return to this post.

Now, what is exciting about all of this is it confirms that there is plenty of room for alternative search models not based entirely on indexing. Hakia is interesting because it is based on artificial intelligence. Additionally, the idea that socially driven search engines could become a Web 2.0 alternative to Google and Yahoo is pretty intriguing.

Profy.com blogs about these developments on a regular basis, and has conducted ongoing interviews with many of the players. Let's hope there is something to it. The information about Snap is from an article at Dosh Dosh that also talks about submission to search engines using Submit Express and Free Web Submission.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

SMO and SMM in the Mix of Social Networking

2007-05-05T16:30:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Weblogs and Business)

The humble beginnings of keeping a personal journal as a weblog has transcended to blogging as a business, and like so many things on the interwebs is morphing again from social networks to Social Media Optimization (SMO) and now to...Social Media Marketing (SMM).

The earlier chatrooms, bulletin boards, and forums overlap with RSS feeds, mashups, and a never ending array of new words and acronyms descriptive of online social behavior as it is created, defined, redefined and targeted to our limited resources of time (Just to list a few: Digg, MySpace, Reddit, Newsvine, Squidoo, Furl, Frappr, Ning, Twitter, Ziki, and on and on).

There definitely is something to this, whether it is collectively called Web 2.0 or anything else. I am now becoming more involved in the various aspects of defining online markets, driving traffic, conversion and fulfillment as the managing contributor of a new business blog.

The blog is related to my interests of wireless communications, nascent technology and extreme computing. The blog is sponsored by Rugged Notebooks, Inc. and you can review the beginnings of this niche market blog at www.RuggedNotebooksBlog.com (return to this post).

As with any blog endeavor, your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

SOHO Saturday Shoutouts

2007-05-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Shoutouts Weblogs and Business)

"Saturday Shoutouts for SOHOs" is all about recognizing other blogs and bloggers of note because they contribute in no short measure to the blogosphere. As I write this, I am having an unexpected instant message conversation with Iker Yoldas half way around the world about the recent woes of Digg. So, Ilker is the first shoutout mention at The Thinking Blog.

Dosh Dosh is the next shoutout. This blog is in my reader for the great information that is shared regarding all things blogging. The other mentions this week are Dan at The Wrong Advices, and Saman at Samanathon.com. Both great bloggers providing tech information in a steady fashion.

These also are Worpress bloggers, and they have lots of tips and tricks archived about using the Wordpress blogging platform.

Leave some comments as you stop by these blogs, (return to this blog) and make some comments here as to what you think of these shoutouts, as well.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

One Day Blog Silence Dot Com

2007-04-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

An Unorthodox Way to Think About Blog Traffic - Coming from A Different Direction

2007-04-24T14:02:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

I have been engaged in a dialog with David Brown, a UK netepreneur with some traffic building concepts that just maybe the blogger crowd needs to investigate. David does use blogging in his marketing arsenal, but only as a means to drive traffic for online promotion of other websites.

What first seems unorthodox as a blogger is that David says he is not overly concerned about Alexa ranking, nor does he care much about Technorati ranking, Google PR...nor much about SEO either. He does not try to get his blogs listed highly anywhere. This may sound crazy if you are a die-hard blogger, but you want to know why it works?

David is just approaching IM from a different and clever direction. He is driving traffic using article writing campaigns in combination with Adwords. When you think about it, bloggers can do the same thing. I actually have tested the article writing strategy and I know that it works.

You have to write anyway, so why not write pillar articles for submission to several article directories. You will get much more exposure, and in the long run you will have the opportunity to position yourself as an authority in your given niche much more quickly.

So the idea is to get your articles indexed and ranking good on the search engines. These in turn are linked back to your blogs, which can then link to a mini-site or landing pages. David explains all of this in his free course "Big Cat Strategy". I am taking the course to see what it is all about.

This is not an endorsement of any affiliate or marketing course, but this approach does seem to have merit. Since I am new to online marketing, I probably found it too easy to get totally wrapped up with blogging, and stepped away from seeing blogs as just one of the many tools available for successful Internet marketing.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Create Some Blogger Conversation for Traffic Building

2007-04-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Weblogs and Business Social Design)

There are many different ways to go about creating traffic and link popularity to your blogs. How will you get noticed out of millions of blogs? I have found that making comments on similar blogs and joining forums that reflect your interests, or the niche of your blog will help to get started.

Just changing the focus of the content of your blog, creating the appropriate categories, links, and tags will also create more targeted traffic organically from the search engines. This approach does require, organization, frequent posting, and some time to get indexed for keywords and phrases.

Another method is to use the power of the social aspects of the blogosphere itself, by jumping in and starting your own conversations using things like, "shout outs", "speed linking", and "blogtipping". All similar approaches to posting about other blogs and bloggers without really expecting anything in return.

You will, however, be noticed. If you are writing several posts a week, why not make one post a week (or even once a month) a way to promote your blog by recognizing other bloggers.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

SOHOs Can Join The Blogosphere in Africa

2007-04-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

Earlier this month I posted there would not be any updates for some time on Foreign Blog Directories. That has changed as Peter Haslam has made me aware of two directories in Africa that I have successfully joined. I am focused on this only for the fact that I think this is fertile ground and overlooked for garnering some traffic that could go unnoticed.

The two directories are mentioned in a post from Problogging, a South African blog. The directories are Amatomu and Afrigator. The sign up is similar to other directories with similar categories found in most directories.

Thanks Peter for this find. -Digital Nomad

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Five Reasons Why You Think You May Want to Be A Blogger

2007-04-21T13:59:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

This is a good question that is widely posed across the blogosphere. Why do you blog? I was tagged for a meme last week by Mark of MeandMyDrum as to why people blog. I have to admit that it has taken me some time to come up with five viable reasons.

Originally, the idea of making money for blogging was certainly desirable, so that would be on my list. I also like the idea of socializing and meeting new people that have similar interests and ideas. I know that blogging allows me to express myself by forcing me to write down thoughts about how I presently view certain issues. Another purpose was to use a blogging platform to learn about online marketing, and then pass some of what I learn along to other people.

So, to recap, my five reasons are: 1. Interact with like minded people. 2. Hone my thoughts through writing. 3. Use blogging as a way to learn some new skills. 4. Pass some of what I learn along to others 5. And, back to the original idea, determine if blogging is a way to create some online business opportunities.

I am not tagging anyone in particular for this meme, as I am "memed out". Anyone is welcome to pass this along and keep the meme alive.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO™ - Miniature Security Appliance

2007-04-20T20:14:00.001-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

"Pentagon Security Level" USB device with a Great Name, SOHO.

clipped from www.yoggie.com

Superior value for your money. Yoggie Gatekeeper Pro's™ 13 security hardware and software layers are comparably priced with individual software-only solutions on the market.

Hassle free, connect & forget, ‘Pentagon Security Level’ USB device.

1 Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO™ protects up to 5 PC in your home or business network.
>> How it works

Google Pays Pirates' Ransom for Advertising Acquisition

2007-04-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

As widely reported today and predicted as a trend in my recent post on Digital Nomads Blog, cash cow Google continues to be a spoiler for Microsoft. Here are a few of the references to the DoubleClick online advertising news at Search Engine News, and Tech It Like a Man.

As blogger Bulletz puts it, "Google is in the position to take over the Internet on all levels. They are releasing their own pay per link advertising and ousting their competition. Soon every ad on every website will be powered by Google."

Will Goolge remain the admiration of the masses, or sink to being despised like the monopoly everyone loves to hate? Stay tuned, as this will take some time to play itself out. Imagine Microsoft calling for "anti-competitive" regulatory action. Arrgh...who says there are no more pirates.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Business-To-Business Search Engine with Global Reach for Your SOHO Biz

2007-04-14T10:54:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Here is a search engine specific to global B2B listings. You may want to submit your SOHO or online business profile to Masterseek.

Masterseek is a global search engine that provides free access to company profiles, contact information, including products and services from more than 45 million companies in 75 countries. This website and search engine also has a translation tool for twenty languages at the bottom of the home page.

Masterseek gives you the ability to search in your own country, or worldwide to find business partners, sales opportunities, and new avenues to expand your business and increase exposure.

As first mentioned, another benefit is that you can enter your company profile for free and showcase products and services to the global community. This is another example of how the world through new technology is getting a little smaller every day.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Necessary Skills for Necessary Thinking

2007-04-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

Or is it Necessary Thinking for Necessary Skills? Critical thinking is undoubtedly important in determining the skills you need to acquire to be successful in any endeavor. Not the least being able to sort out the ways to be a successful netpreneur.

Peter Haslam of Necessary Skills often posts such mind bending questions. Two recent back-to- back posts got me thinking about which is first in the process, and which should be considered the more important. Everybody seems to be searching for a secret, and as Peter points out money always seems to change hands when you can make people believe that you have the "Secret".

Sorry Oprah, but I simply do not think everyone has the skills or knowledge to be successful and/or rich...but possibly the capacity to be happy and thankful for what they have and don't have.

Read both posts, Post One and Post Two (return to this post). So, this is a challenge to continue the meme, as well as an opportunity to just think about such things. It is similar to the "Chicken and the Egg" question, and can really only be answered in a very personal way.

My guess is that there is no secret, unless the secret is the ability to make others believe that you have the secret through relentless marketing.

Take a look around...Secrets to Adwords, Secrets to Website Traffic, Secrets to Financial Freedom, Secrets to Google Traffic, Secrets to Selling on Ebay, and on and on.

In the end I think Peter is right. The Secret is Not Really Secret: Information + Thought + Experience = Knowledge. It merely is attaining knowledge, applying knowledge with action, and dispelling unwanted or obsessive thoughts and beliefs on your chozen journey.

I tag the following fellow bloggers fro this meme:
http://scott2096.blogspot.com/
http://www.dgthekneelo.blogspot.com/
http://www.fusionview.co.uk/
http://www.leavetheoffice.com/
http://www.workingnomad.com/ebook/
http://www.nunomad.com/
http://e-competences.blogspot.com/

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Twenty Five Tips That Won't Leave Your SOHO Business on Hold

2007-04-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

This information has been around for some time, but I thought it would be a fun and useful thing to post. I just received an article on a BNET feed of 25 useful tips and tricks to save time. This relates to one of the 25 tips.

If you have ever been frustrated with being placed on hold, or discouraged with hang time when calling a business...this is the place to get the list of telephone numbers and instructions to speak to a real person for 500 of the top requested corporations. I also have known that if you get a voice activated interface, you usually can just say "agent", or "operator" and this often times will transfer you to a real live human being. The website noted above is GetHuman.com.

Just one of twenty five business hacks that you will find in this BNET article to help you in your quest as a SOHO entrepreneur.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Good Advice in Your Junk Email

2007-04-06T14:03:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Social Design)

"Take a Break!" That was the message from Affiliate Queen Rosalind Gardner this morning. I, and I hope you do, have a junk email address to collect the "relentless pursuit" junk email from all of the Internet Gurus.

Her advice is to step back from your business every now and again. Made good sense to me, so here is the email for those who did not receive it.

"You definitely need a break if...

You spend so much time at the computer that your family misses you and complains about your absence..

Or, if you feel frustrated or bogged down with how your business is progressing. Feeling that way actually causes you to lose focus and slows your progress.

When you step back and relax for awhile, you'll find that you gain clarity, perspective and focus; and that makes everything about your business run more smoothly.

So, enjoy your weekend 'project' and have a Happy Easter!"

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Does Your Online Business Have a Lens?

2007-04-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Are you a lensmaster yet? Here is how the lens concept is described at the Squidoo website:

"Squidoo: SKWID-OO, n. v., adj., addiction. 1) thousands of people creating a handbuilt catalog of the best stuff online 2) a free and fun way to make your own page and get traffic 3) a place to find what you're looking for, fast."

Squidoo is a network of tens of thousands of everyday Interweb users. You can share your ideas, promote yourself or a business, and create new traffic at the same time. This just may be a way for SOHO entrepreneurs to develop online enterprises.

I like the idea behind the "Lens" concept. You can develop numerous lens sites like I did for this blog at: http://www.squidoo.com/soho-quest/

Since I am interested in new ideas, I also have created several other lenses as an online marketing test:

http://www.squidoo.com/sovereignrights/
http://www.squidoo.com/digital-nomads/
http://www.squidoo.com/LifeAfterWork/

Visit the Digital Nomad's lenses, sign the guest books, and also leave your comments.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

SOHO Update on Foreign Blog Directories

2007-04-05T11:52:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

This will be the last update on Foreign Blog Directories for some time. The reason is that I am still having a rough time finding blogging directories to submit to. I have been happy with the test so far, but I believe I need to let traffic build for a few months to report anything substantial.

I am getting 20-30 page view per day from the Malaysian Directories that were added last month. The Canadian Directory is providing 40-60 page views for each of the three Digital Nomad weblogs per day.

I still am very interested in this as a test project, and the offer still stands to provide a link back to any readers that can enlighten me with new resources for Foreign Blog Directory Resources.

I also will mention them in a post to this blog. Just leave a comment to this post, or send an email to: admin.digitalnomad@gmail.com.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

If You Think You Can't Start a Small Home Business, You Are Right

2007-04-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

This is the wonderful little story of a young woman everyone should take notice of and read. We all have heard the saying "If you think you can, or can't...you are right".

Sara started a work-from-home business, because she had no choice. She was hesitant and afraid at first, but with the help of her Uncle as a mentor she has accomplished much.

I don't want to steal her thunder on this, and therefore I will point you to her blog so you can read it for yourself at: www.fibromyalgiaexperiment.com.

These kind of posts show that anything is possible with the right attitude and a will to succeed. It also shows the importance of seeking out a mentor, and the importance of taking proper steps for goal achievement.

Here are some random facts about Sara. She authors at least 13 blogs. The most popular is Gilmore Girl Fanatic with a Technorati rank around 4,000. Quite a feat.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

!Gotta Get Beliefs - Are Your Beliefs Limiting Your Online Goals

2007-04-01T18:45:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Related Miscellany)

This is an update to the post below about setting goals. That post, and another post on My Sovereign Journey blog has started some compelling conversations pertinent not only for those that want to work for themselves using e-commerce somehow online, but for anyone that is really questioning anything.

Peter Haslam at Necessary Skills has proposed some challenging "mind patterns" for me with his post today, "When Is a Belief Not a Belief?" Tough questions for anyone starting a new venture. You have to believe in yourself and what you are doing. This is inherently different than the learning process, which we also have ongoing conversations about.

It has to do with analyzing your entire belief system, to the point that you no longer believe, but know. This kind of stuff makes my brain hurt, what Peter has termed a "brain rattle".

After conversing most of today via email, it looks like this will become a permanent topic on his blog, and the conversations will continue. Thanks Peter for making my brain rattle. I welcome the challenge and your future insights on this perplexing topic.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

!Gotta Get Goals (Objectives Too)

2007-03-31T18:59:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

Have to get some goals, yes...we all need to get some goals, or is it really objectives. I was tagged for this meme by Pam at the Link and Blog Challenge.

Setting goals is tough and often something most of us would like to just put it off. So, I decided I better analyze the rules and get this done as an important task.

Most people do not really understand the difference between "objectives" and "goals". That is one of the more difficult aspects about setting a goal. You can write down all the goals you want, but if you do not have attainable objectives defined, you can never reach a goal.

Objectives and goals are not interchangeable, and you will never reach goals without objectives. I know and understand my major goal right now is to be sole sufficient online. So, that is my one focused goal. The following five objectives are essential to reaching this single goal.

Objective Number One: Learn and understand Internet Marketing.

Objective Number Two: Learn and understand how to research and define Niche Markets.

Objective Number Three: Learn and understand how to develop and test Concepts.

Objective Number Four: Learn and understand the different methods to Monetize.

Objective Number Five: Before the end of 2007 launch 5-10 profitable Online Ventures.

Now notice I did not list I want to make a million dollars, get out of debt, buy a fancy house, or retire within the next 12 months. The reason for this is I have enough life experience to know that these are not really goals and are not probably attainable.

So I have one goal...and five objectives to meet my goal. The objectives are attainable, written, and numbered. They have to be accomplished in a particular order. The point is that if I can meet these five objectives (no big secret), then I will likely obtain my goal.

The ultimate goal is really to have the knowledge to create a new online businesses almost at will, at any time, and from any place through obtaining a new set of skills.

I tag the following people:

http://paulamooney.blogspot.com/
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com
http://visionofimperfection.blogspot.com
http://www.profy.com/
http://www.nomadesign.jp
http://www.topbloglists.com
http://xblog.x-sysonline.com
http://lawak-jokes-weirdstuff.blogspot.com

If you are tagged, go check out Gotta get Goals Rules!

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

How I Created 237 Links in 24 Hours

2007-03-31T17:20:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

Happy April Fools Day to all my friends at the Link and Blog Challenge!

Seriously though, if you want to learn how to create relevant links, got to this blog that has a post about L&B Challenge.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Expand Your Processing Power with the Education Revolution

2007-03-29T18:08:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Social Design)

Virtual Speakers and Q&A All Day Long

It´s all about new revolutionary education concepts & ideas - meet speakers and attendees in the comment box for great conversations. Stop by for a while...listen in and meet some new friends.

Learning to create permanent files by linking unique "words" and "pictures" in your head gives you the ability to embed these files into your long term memory. This is the topic I will cover.

This is easier and more powerful than pure rote memory. This technique is rarely explored in conventional education, and the analogy to a computer system is intriguing. This discussion will include a demonstration of these techniques. Click for detail at EduBlogger Event 07.

Note: For those of you who may have missed this, you can go to the Supercool School website and read the posts from this event. Just go to the EduBlogger link above.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Gaming the Blogosphere with Ilker Yoldas

2007-03-22T20:05:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

I like Ilker Yoldas, and I like The Thinking Blog. In fact it really does make me "think". It is usually packed with good information. Ilker also is a talented writer, and an accomplished designer (artist), self admittedly not always knowing everything technical.

The Thinking Blog is in transition (being transferred to a new url from Blogger), but you would never know it. So far it has been seamless. I have been reading and analyzing the site over the last few days simply because it really is that good. Besides, I want to take Ilker up on the offer for the promotion that is offered for a blog makeover.

In reading some of the older posts, I noticed that Ikler has admitted that the sexy avatar of the pretty lady with the red flower in her hair (pictured above) is indeed not Ilker. Ilker admits to this being an experiment to test traffic...and that got me T-H-I-N-K-I-N-G.

So I did some more digging on Ilker's website to find out who this girl in the avatar really is (Here is the Real Girl in Photo). Ilker has since made a few comments to this post. So, we are now for sure that Ilker is not a girl at all. I still plan to write and submit my review of The Thinking Blog.

Note: This post has been edited since Ilker's last comment.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

John Chow Dot Com Blog Reportedly Estimated to Be Worth $2.2 Million

2007-03-22T09:17:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

What do you think your blog may be worth? I was playing around on Dane Carlson's Website this morning. He has a tool on an old post that was created to estimate the value of a blog.

This was inspired by Tristan Louis’s research, Dane created this applet back in 2005 that supposedly will compute and display the current value of a blog based on the the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal. You can read the theory behind it at Business Opportunities Weblog tool.

I got to thinking it would be fun to put some well known and high ranking blogs in the tool to see what kind of dollar amounts would show up. The blog, www.shoemoney.com, as of today is estimated to be worth a whopping $2,763,423.30.

Paula at paulamooney.blogspot.com, has a blogger blog worth $138,312.30, and John Chow is right up there at $2,201,706.00 (screen shot at the top right from this morning).

Some people do create blogs with the intention of selling them at some point in the future. Who knows how valuable or accurate Dane Carlson's estimator is, but at least it's fun to plug in some urls and see the results. We better keep on blogging.

Note: Inspired from a post on The Thinking Blog.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Are You a Forum Junkie? Things to Consider When Joining Online Forums

2007-03-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Like everyone else, I receive many emails each day from Internet Gurus using email campaigns to drum up business. Today I received an email about precautions you should take when joining and participating in forums.

Generally, I subscribe to these emails in order to sift through the information for the occasional hidden gem of advice. I found the advice below to be of value, and have paraphrased the five points to make them shorter and more to the point. Here are some things you should consider before joining an online forum.

1. The name of the forum has the word "Scam" in it. This should be an alarm. You cannot search to see if a forum is a "scam" when the name contains the word "scam"?

2. Members are allowed to post links in the signature directly underneath all posts. People will only leave comments to steal traffic away from the forum with a link back to their site.

3. The forum is a "hang out" for online marketers . Typically these forums have many shills trying to compete for your attention. Forum members can also be targets of phishing scams, asking you in an email follow-up to confirm personal contact information.

4. The forum owner is trying to sell or promote something. This is a common ploy for the forum owner to promote the same thing over and over again to forum junkies and unsuspecting new arrivals.

5. The forum has a monthly membership fee. You should not pay to participate in forums. This in itself is a scam and these forums are completely useless and offer no value.

Note: Paraphrased from an email campaign from therealstraightshooter.com

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Foreign Blog Directory Submission Update - Number 2

2007-03-16T15:57:00.001-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

The test on the Canadian blog directory continues. It has been about two weeks now since I submitted to "Canadian Blogosphere". All three blogs tested have settled into the top third of the directory on a general directory search. The Sovereign Journey Blog is ranked number 1, on a search for "Resources", and this blog is usually ranked "4" or "5" on a "Business" search.

Traffic to all 3 blogs continue to build slowly. So, overall I am pleased with this test and will continue to make updated reports.

I never have been successful in my attempts of submitting to other foreign blog directories and have given up for now. I still am interested in China and India blog directories. It seems to be a challenge worth pursuing.

If anyone provides me with useful information, I will feature them in a post to this blog. Please leave a comment to this post or send an email to: admin.digitalnomad@gmail.com.

Update: A kind thank you to "Weird World of MerapuMan" from Malaysia who turned me on to a few Malaysian blog directories. I will be adding my sites to these directories to test and see if any additional link popularity for blogs can be created from these additional foreign directories.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Daylight Wasting Time-It's Here Again

2007-03-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

Here is some goofy background on a goofy idea, Daylight Savings Time. This is a throw back to two world wars and government attempts at saving energy. You can read the real history and interesting facts at this DST link.

One urban legend about DST is that farmers in the Midwest lobbied for a new time standard to help them with their summer agricultural chores. Believe me, if you are from the breadbasket states you know that farmers could care less. These guys get up at O'Dark Hundred all year long, and work until after dark year around as well.

Fortunately, for the SOHO crowd it may not have much effect, except to coordinate with outside clients and vendors. Besides, the whole idea behind "SOHO" is to work the hours you choose anyway.

However, some people do find humor in changing clocks back and forth an hour twice a year. Personally, I can never remember how to "Fall Back" or "Spring Forward". This post was inspired by a previous Link and Blog post.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Link and Blog Challenge Could Be Challenging You Right Now

2007-03-14T09:41:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

Here is a ground floor opportunity for those wishing to create links organically and in a search engine friendly way. I was told about the "Link and Blog Exchange" by Jimi Morrison at MYBlogLog, and in fact L&BE is kind of like MyBlogLog, but with a more purposeful and direct way of creating link strategies.

This is not about leaving the usual "Checked out your blog", or "Thanks for stopping by" obligatory and mostly boring comments in the hope that you will have people joining your community. The idea is to create "one-on-one" and "group challenges" using the Challenge Tips to make thoughtful and useful links within a community of blogs. To see how important this is, look how one blogger tracks stats at InvestorBlogger (return to this page).

This appears to be a nice idea and should have legs. This site was only launched in February of this year, and is predicted to climb in page ranking fairly quickly. I had a few problems at first with navigating the sign-up process, but was delightfully guided through the process with owner and webmaster, Tammara.

Joining communities and participating in forums is necessary to find bloggers with similar interests and helps create a sense of belonging. This is an opportunity to join and create a presence in a blog community before it gets too large. Go here to join.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Yop! One Day, One Word, One Post

2007-03-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Weblogs and Business Social Design)

What would happen if on one day 30,000 bloggers in unison made a one word post? That's the blogosphere challenge initiated by Rick, Brian and Carol.

This was the concept as presented to me by Carol as she joined my community space on MyBlogLog. Just a short compelling message asking if I would join the list and participate. The idea intrigued me and piqued my viral curiosity, since I had to link to one of her blogs, "My View of It", to see what it was all about. I since have added the information as a side bar to my 3 blogs.

A subsequent comment I made to one of Carol's posts, resulted in what she calls a "Shout Out" (thanks again Carol).

To save you the time of searching to find out what this is about, here is how it works:

Send an email to brian@bravehumans.com with the subject: Yop!
In the body of the email list the name of your weblog, and the URL.
Your weblog will be added to the list below.
Tell your friends who blog about it, and urge them to send in their weblog as well.
When the list reaches 30,000, a date and a word will be listed on the page. On that date, every weblog on the list agrees to make a single post with the word as the title. The content of the post should be about what you want for the world, whatever that may be. The purpose is not to make a particular political statement, but simply to make a noise. If 30,000 weblogs all post the same unusual word, it WILL be heard.

Have you ever wanted to shout to the world? Here's your chance.

Note: E-mail messages will be deleted after your site is added to the list. They will not be used for any purpose other than to join the list. Still not sure what a Yop! is, but this may be a way to network your way to creating some backlinks and some traffic.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Internet Scammers Beware-ProfitLance Is for Real

2007-03-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

I felt like I needed to make an update with regard to my experience using the ProfitLance online marketing system as a tool to learn online marketing (see original review).

I have been online now for a few months and am starting to get queries as to my experience using the system. If you have read my "Eight myths post" at Sovereign Journey Blog, you know that I believe anything you do in life requires self determination, and that education is only achievable when you are ready and excited to learn (Myth Number Two).

If you are having trouble understanding the concept of an online business and what Internet marketing is, then you have shared many of the frustrations I also have experienced. The first point I want to make is that it is very difficult to know what is "real" and what is "hype" when you are on the Internet.

This requires a tremendous amount of research visiting forums, posting questions, and generally just doing your own due diligence. Everyone dearly wants to believe that there is some kind of "plug-in" system that will gain you instant success from some work-at-home opportunity or biz op. I can sadly report along with others that these products do not exist.

My background is marketing in the off-line world (mass marketing). Online marketing requires many new skills, because of the technology learning curve involved. I finally came to the realization that there are no shortcuts and that I would just have to bear down and learn.

This is the whole point of ProfitLance, and it is pointed out in excruciating detail. Internet marketing is a lot of work and you just have to learn it. It does work, but I now know it will take time. As an example, do a Google search on "ProfitLance". You will find that four of the first page search results are links to my blogs and articles.

This is confirmation to me that the system works. This was accomplished in about a month by following the techniques described in the ProfitLance system. If you are contemplating starting a small office-home office (SOHO) business that entails some form of online marketing, I strongly urge you to consider ProfitLance, or find something like SiteSell.

I know that Ken Envoy and his online course and products are highly regarded. The point here is don't waste your time on ebooks and get rich schemes. You will find in the long run, just as Michael Andrews points out in the profitLance course...99% of it is useless. You simply are going to have to invest in yourself and an education. The best way to do this is with interactive web based tools.

I have yet to make substantial money. In fact I have not really tried yet. My plan has been to learn the tools and techniques through testing with blogs, and then focus on creating websites that I can monetize as I learn.

I have learned enough now that I can spot scams, and evaluate online tools and opportunities. Do yourself a favor and take the time to educate yourself and the light bulbs will come on.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Link Love and Weblog Prostitution - The View from Paula Mooney

2007-03-10T14:14:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Weblogs and Business Social Design)

As a result of blogging, I am constantly reading and researching to find magic bullets. If you have followed most of the optimization techniques available, no doubt you know that a big part of the game for getting traffic is to be patient. Put a plan into action and keep building, one step at a time.

Certainly you have to be on topic, stay on topic, and be writing posts of interest. My goal has always been to grow my blogs organically, since I want to have highly targeted traffic. Aside from all the tricks and tips I run across, I find that there is a need to build on the social aspects of the blogosphere. My goal is still to mimic proven virtual business models and to have a truly "portable business" that I can operate from anywhere.

This is the "modus operandi" behind my current blogs The SOHO Quest, Digital Nomads, and The Sovereign Journey, all targeted to different segments of "working online" and utilizing "emerging technology", documenting what I learn along the way in an effort to help others.

Today I have been searching on techniques to increase traffic and improve ranking. Like always, it's hard to wade through all the junk. John Chow and others make no bones about being link whores in a never ending "Link orgy" to create backlinks. Chow is successful and I, Like many others, follow his advice.

I did a search on Technorati this afternoon and pulled up Paula Mooney as someone who seems to beating the odds and rising to the top. Paula's blog has a Technorati rank in the 3,000 range as of the end of February 2007, up from the 78,000 range on New Year's day. Seeing how there are 50+ million blogs and two new blogs created every second (according to Technorati stats), I would say Paula is a star. Read her post on John Chow and you will see what she is up to now (Thank you John and Paula in advance).

Listen up folks...she must know what she is talking about. Paula is a professional writer in Ohio, according to her "About" page. Her blog is about blogging no less (actually she has four blogs). I like her approach, since it matches my mindset...be focused, create a community (audience), and learn how to monetize along the way.

Paula's mantra in her blog subtitle is "Help bloggers make money, gain readers & raise rankings". Sounds like a formula I can buy. My hats off to you Paula, and also I don't think you are a "link whore", but a very smart, hard working lady, and a blognoscenti.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Blogosphere Creates Need to Coin New Words

2007-03-08T12:59:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

I frequently find the need to look up the meaning of unfamiliar words and terms as I read blogs, or articles related to "blogging" and the "blogosphere". I know I should be posting more on something business related, but today I am in a state of "blogathy" .

I recently did a search on blogging terms and found many links and glossaries, including the standard Wikipedia, and several others as resources of deciphering blog terms. I was amazed at not only the number of new words and terms that have been coined, but also some of the meanings. This is my favorite for definition of blogging terms.

Much of the information from site to site is redundant, but I like samizdata.com because it's fun to look at plus it give you extra information, like who in the blogosphere is credited with coining the word or phrase. It even gives you the origin of the name "samizdata". Some of this I am sure is just for amusement. For instance, do you know what a "blognoscenti" is?

If blogging is part of your strategy for marketing your online business endeavors, you may find it useful to brush up on the unfamiliar words and terms related to blogging that you are sure to come across in your reading and research.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Foreign Blog Directory Submission Update - Number 1

2007-03-05T15:57:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

The test on the Canadian blog directory submission shows some promise. All three blogs that I submitted to the "Canadian Blogosphere" have climbed in ranking from the "150s" to the "80-115" or so mark. It has only been 2 days since I submitted to to this directory, and all three blogs have moved from the middle of the pack to the top third in rankings.

I also have had a small bump in traffic. I suspect that this is because there are fewer blogs listed on this directory - hundreds, and not thousands. It could also be because these blogs are new additions.

On another note, I wanted to report that it has not been easy to find "foreign blog directories" that allow submissions from the US. I tried to submit to some directories in the UK and India, but one of the requirements was that you had to be a resident or a citizen blogging from these countries.

I am going to try to submit to "Blogdup-China", which appears to accept blogs from outside of China. If anyone has had a similar experience, or has other information regarding foreign blog directories, please leave a comment to this post or send an email to: admin.digitalnomad@gmail.com.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

Increase Traffic with Foreign Blog Directories

2007-03-04T12:59:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

I have been doing lots of reading on optimization and techniques to increase traffic. John Chow of "John Chow Dot Com" has a good series of articles going, which are pretty informative (check it out and return to this page).

I will be following some of Chow's ideas and tactics, along with those of others and I will report any updates. I also am doing a little experiment with Canadian blog directories. I figured why not...those guys to the Great White North all use our blog directories and forums to pump up their traffic, including John Chow who happens to live in Vancouver.

This is a short post, and I don't want to write too much on this at the present, but as an experiment I registered some blogs last night at "Canadian Blogosphere". I do not know if this will result in an increase of traffic from Canada, but thought I would try this as a test. It' s easy to sign up and easy to track your rankings. This was my idea, so I will claim it here.

If you do stop by Canadian Blogosphere, please give me a heads-up by voting for one, or all three of the blogs that I placed in the directory. They are this blog "The SOHO-Quest", "Digital Nomads", and "The Sovereign Journey". These blogs are all currently ranked in the middle of the pack in the 120 -150 rank range. So, as of today this is where you should look for them in the ranking. If you are unfamiliar with my other blogs read about Digital Nomad's Blogs.

I will provide updates after I let this test, and other traffic strategies percolate for a few weeks.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

What's in a Name - The Importance of Your Domain Name

2007-03-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

(Archived in: Online Usability Weblogs and Business)

Don't be flip about choosing a domain name for your SOHO business, website, or blog. First impressions are still lasting impressions and, in particular, since the vast majority of people search via "keywords" and "key phrases", take the time to research and claim a proper domain name to register.

If you are testing the Internet waters with a popular blogging platform like "Blogger" or "Wordpress", you probably also will want to secure the same name as your blog, or a similar name as a website url that you will own. For some good strategies and techniques for choosing domain names visit this site Web Marketing Today.

This post is not a tutorial on domain name strategies, just a general observation on what you don't want to do. I came across an article at "Dummies Guide to Blogger", a blog written by Peter Chen. Chen posted a reference to a funny article titled: "The top 10 unintentionally worst company urls" from www.independentsources.com (close new window to return to this page).

The point is you don't want to get stuck with a url that conveys something other than what is your intended target market or niche. Another important point that Peter makes is that search engines cannot distinguish combined words (phrases), unless they are separated with dashes. You will find that strategies keep changing though, as there aren't enough keyword combinations to meet the demand.

Peter Chen writes two other blogs that I find myself referring to often for advice. You may want to bookmark , "Blogger Tips and Tricks" and "Testing Blogger Beta". Both are excellent resources for the Small Office-Home Office entrepreneur.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur