As I'm helping people look at how to use social marketing in their online marketing mix I thought I'd share some of the interesting things I'm finding in my research.

Here are some interesting links for you to check out:

Marketing Profs research data:

http://www.marketingprofs.com/store/product/34/the-state-of-social-media-marketing/?adref=webrschchsm

List of the Top 20 Web 2.0 sites:

http://movers20.esnips.com/TableStatAction.ns?reportId=100

Twitter Research:

http://www.danah.org/researchBibs/twitter.html

Interesting Harvard Business Review article:

http://blogs.hbr.org/baldoni/2009/02/managing_big_egos_so_the_entir.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a38:g26:r10:c0.043931:b30851108:z6

Another HBR Article about Twitter:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/02/vancouvers_twitter_lesson.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness%2Fcs+%28Conversation+Starter+on+HBR.org%29&loomia_ow=t0%3As0%3Aa38%3Ag26%3Ar24%3Ac0.000555%3Ab30851108%3Az6

Another HBR article:

http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2009/09/tips-for-being-an-energizer.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a38:g26:r14:c0.000666:b30851108:z6

Cool Digg visualisation tool

http://labs.digg.com/365/

For those of you like me who have a mac (I still have PCs too) you may have got to a point where you needed to use the # character. Especially if you're into Twitter (using hashtags in your tweets).

Well on my mac keyboard there's no # key. This is in the UK so it might be different elsewhere.

I'll give you your answer - if you hold down alt and 3 - you'll get a #.
Have fun.

Andy

After 11 years in IM I decided to share my thoughts at one of the internets most popular internet marketing forums where I've been a member since 2004.

It seemed only right to share the same information here so I've pasted it below. I hope you find it useful.

Andy

I just noticed that I've now officially been in IM for 11 years.

Things have changed a LOT over those years and I've seen many young warriors turn into millionaires.

This forum has helped many people make excellent money in that time and there are new people joining all the time.

Along with all of the changes I've seen there have also been many constants.

Things like - information overload. That's been a problem for people the entire time. The technology has changed but it seems that at any point in time there are people who take advantage of that and people who use it as their reason why things are difficult.

My own journey has been a roller coaster and a massive learning experience.

I've seen one thing that's been common over the years and has caused (and is causing) many people to struggle unnecessarily.

That is - reliance on other people to tell them what to do or to validate what they think.

The biggest lesson I've learned about IM over the years is that YOU are the only person with the control and responsibility to achieve your results.

I see this as having 2 main parts:

1 - The fear of making mistakes.

2 - Uncertainty about how to make things work.

The fear is natural but can be paralyzing. In my experience - the times that I've made big leaps forward have been due to learning from mistakes.

I wouldn't expect to learn to ice-skate without falling over a few times, but falling doesn't mean failure - it's just part of learning.

I see a lot of new IMers not giving themselves credit for what they achieve and beating themselves up about their failures.

It's not realistic to expect to succeed without bumps along the way, but people are buying into the hype about quick easy success with little work.

There are massive opportunities and it is possible to do well quickly and easily - but it shouldn't be the baseline expectation.

2 - Next come the uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a scary thing and building an income on the internet requires just as much focus and work as working a normal job - the big difference is that YOU get to choose your business model and YOU get the results of your efforts.

I know that many people who turn to IM to achieve their financial goals haven't necessarily been financially successful in their previous working life, so there are some psychological barriers about what are realistic expectations for earning potential.

If you've only ever earned minimum wage - it may be impossible for you to accept that you can make a million dollars online.

You probably know that if you don't believe it will happen - you're likely to behave differently to if you truly believed you could succeed.

This can be a huge problem.

It's also responsible (IMHO) for why so many people undervalue themselves, their time and their products and services.

The reality is - value is in the eye of the beholder.

You know that when it comes to selling your house - it's only 'worth' what someone is willing to pay for it. It doesn't matter how much you paid. It doesn't matter how much work you did on it. The economy can change and property prices can swing and massively reduce the price of your house so that no-one will pay what you paid.

We know and accept this perspective on value but people forget this when looking at their online business.

If you can bring in 1 new customer to a local business - if the business sells $20k building work then they're likely to see a lot of value in that customer. If the business sells ice creams they're likely to place less value on one new customer.

The point is - whatever YOU can make from a new customer has nothing to do with the value of a customer for other businesses.

So - you could do the same work and be paid $400 for your efforts - or $5 for the same results.

It's really important that you understand where value comes from and that you leverage that when pricing your products and services.

Lastly - don't rely on other people to tell you your business.

The biggest problem I see in IM is people always looking for others to tell them what to do, how to do it, when, where and why to do it.

What works for others is what works for others - it's not a recipe for your success.

This mindset of looking for people to tell them what to do also feeds a market of people looking to make money from those desperate people.

People will sell you whatever you demand. If you ask them to tell you what you should do - they'll pick (or create) something to sell you.

The problem is - this reliance on other peoples need for information results in some people constantly needing to create something to sell you in order for them to make money.

You only need to look at the WSO section to see this cycle in action.

It started as an exclusive place to get really valuable products and services and is now a constant barrage of whatever people think they can sell to desperate members. There are also people ready to say "you should run a wso" every time someone says something useful in the public forum.

This mentality of - "hey you could sell that information to newbies" has developed and has created a mass of low value information products which simply say the same thing as people are saying for free in the forum and elsewhere.

This all feeds the information overload, the mindset that you need to buy 'secrets' in order to know what to do.

The truth is - most of this information is just a distraction from you building a business and serves to confuse people and continue the cycle of dependency rather than break people free of it.

So - with all that said, here's my top piece of advice for anyone just starting out.

THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!

Yes - model success, but there's so much misinformation around created to feed the desire for information that you're probably not reasonably able to tell the lies from the real information - so just use your brain to build your business and don't believe anything you read.

You do NOT 'need' anything from anyone to be successful.

It's great to work with others (I recommend it). It's great to outsource things which others can do better than you. It's great to model success.

BUT….

Speeding up a bad system just speeds up chaos and failure.

Tools and systems are only as good as the foundation they're built on. No tool is going to make or break your success.

If you think you're an Internet Marketer and you can't answer the question "what is your business?" - ask yourself why.

Many people get sucked in to the strategies and tools of IM and think that (for example) article marketing is a business, or PPC is a business.

If you have no business to use these tools and strategies on - you're likely to spend most of your time doing stuff and not building a business.

If you make $200 a month and it costs you $300 - you're NOT in business.

If your goal is to make $10k a month and you're spending 12 hours a day and making $2k a month and not sure how to improve that - maybe you're in the wrong business.

You need to have your goals in mind to use as the reference for whether your actions are suitable.

There are so many ways to make money online that people often forget that finding 5 ways to make $200 a month - is not 'success' if your goal was to create $10k a month.

It's important that you measure and test what you're doing - or you can end up thinking you're being successful when you're doing things that won't reach your goals.

It's really important for complete beginners to make that first dollar to prove that real money can be created from internet activities - but after that, it's even more important to create a plan for your business that includes a realistic strategy for making money that can reach your goal.

If you don't do this - you can end up spending years doing things and wondering why you always seem to have limited success, and then trying different things.

You need to be able to look at your activities and have a realistic reason to expect that they will create the income you desire.

Many people kid themselves that making a few dollars means they're being successful.

Many IMers have made less than they've spent on information products and are still kidding themselves that they're successful.

If you want a hobby - then yes, it doesn't matter if you only make a few hundred dollars here and there.

If you want to achieve financial independence - you need a more robust plan.

Houses cost hundreds of thousands of dollars - your plan needs to achieve your goals. If you have no goals, you're probably operating a less than ideal plan. If you know you need to make $250k - you'll see that 12 hours a day making $200 a month won't get you there.

Get real about your plans - don't expect anyone else to make them happen (lots of people think if they just make an ebook and get someone with a big list to promote it - they'll be rich). Don't believe what you see others saying - especially when it's part of, or followed by a sales page.

People will take your money all day long while you're looking to pay them to make you successful.

Andy

Hi,

I just saw something that shocked me and I really wanted to tell you about it.

I know that many people struggle with the concept of using PPC (Pay Per Click) to get targeted traffic.

The main issue being the costs and the fact that if you get it wrong you can waste a lot of money in very little time.

There's a young guy making hundreds of thousands of dollars using lesser known PPC networks where you can get significantly lower prices for your PPC traffic.

He's been so successful that aswell as the usual material trappings, he's able to offer guaranteed acceptance into a CPA network he partners with and also give you vouchers for free ad clicks.

Just go watch this video now and see for yourself - Click Here Now

To your success

Andy

Hi again,

I had an interesting day today meeting with a few clients in various capacities and it prompted me to share some thoughts with you.

I was busy in London yesterday shooting videos for a client website and it also reminded me about some of the questions I get about how as a marketer I work with bricks and mortar offline businesses.

Many people with online marketing knowledge get drawn to the idea of selling their skills to offline businesses.

I've had plenty of discussions about this on forums and people are pretty polarised on the subject with one camp of people saying that if you don't understand business and haven't been successful marketing your own business you have no right selling your knowledge or services to other businesses, and the other camp saying that if you can offer something of value then you'd be crazy not to.

I'm sort of in the middle on the subject as I believe that it's not something you can really generalise about and different people can approach the situation in different ways.

There are a lot of dynamics that can come into play but I think many people overthink the subject or find it too easy to find problems instead of looking at the positive aspects.

One of my meetings today was with a local website provider who I'm helping with some marketing services. This person offers websites to local businesses and has a nice business going.

His business is very simple - he provides websites to businesses.

His model is simple - he outsources most of the work to a team of programmers in India.

He's got a great relationship of 4 years with a team that can do pretty much anything involving programming and web design.

This enables him to be able to take on any work that a website customer needs and confidently fulfill the requirements.

He knows that his customers also need marketing services and that's something he's looking to add to his offering (and something I can help him with).

His team are such a benefit to him and so efficient (there are over 50 people in the team) that I've already started passing him work that I was intending to do for myself and my clients.

His business is one that anyone could do with very little technical knowledge and a good outsourcing team.

So, while a beginner may not understand much about business or how else to help a company - there's certainly no reason why they couldn't run a successful business providing websites to people.

The other meeting I had was with a client who I'm building a site for, but as providing the website is just part of how I am helping her, this is a case where a website would have been good, but my marketing knowledge and ability to understand other ways to make her business more successful are a significant extra benefit.

With this client, providing an email system which she can use to effectively communicate with her existing customer base is a massively valuable thing. Also because I can teach her about the power of using a sequential autoresponder system to build her relationships by email and provide insights into the benefits and value of her business (to existing and new clients, business customers and individuals alike) this is a great way for her to be able to help her customers appreciate the many ways she can help them, rather than just what they've seen.

The ability to send them offers and discount coupons and let them know about changes in her services is a really useful thing that could also be done without a website, or could have been done if she already had a website.

In this case - it's much easier to deliver value if you understand a little about how businesses work and how to effectively market a business.

Not something a complete beginner could deliver but the technicality of delivering the email system is trivial compared to the value it can offer when used effectively. So this is an area where someone 'could' make money but would struggle to describe and deliver real value without some level of knowledge and experience.

Alongside those things are the online marketing strategies that can be applied to help a customers website gain more visibility in the search engines and other relevant online places where their potential customers might be.

This 'internet marketing' aspect can have many facets and again offers many ways to people to specialise and deliver value to businesses.

You could focus just on how to gain search engine visibility. You could focus on managing paid traffic generation for customers. You could even focus on handling their press releases online, or publishing and marketing videos or conducting social marketing campaigns for their business.

One of the great things about the Internet is the amount of options it opens.

So whether specialising in one aspect or providing an array of services based on what fits a clients business, there are more opportunities than there are people taking advantage of them.

I believe there's a solid business for almost anyone to be able to make money providing services and products to help businesses.

Whether it's providing websites, email systems or marketing services - if you've been wondering whether it's possible for you to create a successful business - the answer is probably yes.

I've also been interviewing other marketers on this subject and already have several hours of audio interviews to share with you. I'll get them ready and let you know how to access them soon.

Until next time.

Your online friend.

Andy

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="125" caption="Viral Link Network"][/caption]

Hi,

Well as you know I'm a bit of a demon at devising creative new ways to get lots of links to peoples websites. It's been something I've been developing strategies for since 1999.

Well, about 5 years ago a friend and I were brainstorming ways to get a LOT of links to any website we wanted and we came up with a really cool viral strategy.

The only problem was that to bring it to life was going to require some nifty programming.

We thought that would be simple but 5 programmers and 4 years later - we still hadn't found anyone reliable enough and marketing savvy enough to bring it to life.

Well, you'll be pleased to know that this is no longer the case.

My friend and I did finally find a really good programmer that understood the power of this strategy and was able to create the software we needed.

A few months ago I let the two of them get on with it and focused on other projects and between them they driven the project over the finishing line and the system is now ready for the public.

There were a few important considerations that were factored in to this system, they are:

1 - It must be free to access.

This is a fundamental part of ensuring that any new system can go viral.
Although this project took a lot of time and money to finish - You can get the software for free.

2 - It must be able to scale and get millions of links.

Again this is important - the more powerful it can be for each user, the more likely they are to use it and tell others about it. Getting a few thousand links is nice, but would you like a system that had the potential to get millions?

3 - It should be able to make you money while it's getting you links.

That's right. We all know the value of links but wouldn't it be nice to make money while you're building the links? This does that too.

4 - It should be simple. So simple that anyone can use it to help their business.

That's right. It's a simple install and you can use it on one site or on many sites.

5 - It should be like nothing else around.

There's very rarely anything new in the online marketing niche - but this system, although we conceived the idea years ago, still hasn't been done by anyone else. This is NEW.

So this NEW, POWERFUL, PROFITABLE, SCALABLE, SIMPLE system that can be used by anyone is now alive.

Check it out here: Viral Link Network

Andy

Hi again,
You may have seen it on the news - there's a huge volcano errupting in Iceland right now which has created a massive plume of smoke which is being blown right over the UK and has grounded all aircraft. I'm due to go visit my sister in the Netherlands soon and now with the flights all cancelled I'm wondering whether I'll get to go or not.

In a way I'm really glad that I'm not traveling to much these days, but the one thing I can't understand is that there's no way to tell how long a volcano will keep errupting - it's possible to last years and here we are after a few days with all flights cancelled and no way to tell how long it will continue.

It certainly makes it interesting to see how these things affect our normal way of life.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="489" caption="Iceland volcano smoke shuts down aircraft"][/caption]

Hi,

You may know that I'm currently creating a great product all about how to sell your skills and knowledge of marketing to offline businesses and help them make more money.

Well, as usual - one of the 'Gurus' has gone and created a high ticket product aimed at the same people before I've finished mine.

This might be a problem but actually I think it's a great co-incidence.

The reason being that the Guru is a guy called Mike Koenigs (the owner of Traffic Geyser).

I met Mike in Singapore a while ago when he was speaking at an internet marketing seminar. We had a beer and talked about marketing. He's a really nice guy and his products are just amazing.

So when I was talking to another marketer in my area last night about my new product and he mentioned he was speaking to Mike recently in the US (at a Stompernet meetup) and that Mike had this amazing new system coming soon - he had a few 'insider' bits of information which meant it was a no brainer and maybe even a game changer for serious marketers. It's called Main Street Marketing Machine.

That got me really interested. It was from Mike, it was to help the same people I'm helping and it was new and powerful…. Wow!

Then as if that wasn't enough - I got an email from Mike this morning telling me that the first video sharing tons of good information about the new system is now available to show people - Yes!!!

Main Street Marketing Machine itself isn't out quite yet but go here and watch the video - and then tell me if you think it's something that could change your life.

The video is free, you're not signing up to buy anything - just getting access to a REALLY cool video that will tell you a lot.

Andy

I know that new things come out all of the time, but hey who has time to watch (or even care about) most of them - not me.

Anyway, my internet marketing friend Rob Puddy is today launching a really interesting and creative new product. It's called My Best Bonus Offer

Rob is an affiliate marketer and makes his living selling his own and other peoples products.

He was telling me about how the average newcomer to Internet Marketing often struggles to compete with the big guys when they want to make money referring people to a new product.

If you're not familiar with with affiliate marketing, it's just a way to get paid for sending customers to someone with a product to sell - nothing complicated, but when you're trying to get your message out above a lot of people with more money and better access to the target audience it can be difficult to be taken seriously.

Rob wanted to address that, so that he could compete with the big guns and also so that people could promote his products even if there were big promotions already going on.

Robs new product revolves around the idea that many people go looking for who's got the best bonus when a product is being offered by many people.

This is a sound principle as many people expect bonuses and so there are always people offering them. It somewhat comoditizes the main product but seems popular and helps sales so people do it.

I won't bore you with all the details but I'll just tell you this is new and different and if you're even vaguely interested in affiliate marketing you're like it.

Rob has a video on his site that'll tell you what it's all about. I hate sales videos and when it started I thought it was going to be really complicated and boring, but actually when I sat through it I came away very impressed. It's a great idea and I didn't think he was so creative, so respect to him for even thinking of this let alone turning it into a product. I've already started using it.

Check it out

Andy

“An error has occurred. You have been
signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”

That was the message my PS3 greeted me with this morning when I went to have a play.

This is the same for many thousands of other PS3 owners too.

I also noticed the clock was wrong and changed that manually to see if it helped but it turns out that Sony have a bug in their system (and mine). This leap year has confused the PS3 and stopped all players using the older model PS3 (not the new slimline version) from connecting to the playstation network or even running some games offline.

Basically anything that requires the playstation to try and connect to any server (to get trophy information etc.)

The answer - don't use your playstation until they've sorted it out.

You can follow sony on Twitter to get updates - http://twitter.com/sonyplaystation

Right now that just points back to their blog (which says follow them on twitter for updates) and the blog tells you what I already have.

So - if like me you've been affected - we're out of luck until they work out how to fix it AND can get that fix to us - it's possible that we'll end up having to download a patch from the internet on a pc and then put it into the PS3 via a network or usb stick, but I hope they can do it automatically.

Unfortunately you're not going to know when or how until it happens or they update their blog/twitter with instructions.

So - that's my gaming today screwed. I just completed Heavy Rain at the weekend and went up to Prestige level 5 on the latest COD, so I'm hoping my game play has not been lost.

Let's hope they sort it out quickly and effectively.

Andy

I'm always asking myself this question and I thought it might be useful to share it for others who might get the same benefits I do.

Here's what it means:

1 - Being at 'Effect' means from your perspective, you are experiencing the effect of things happening in the world and you need to be ready at all times to deal with whatever life throws at you. Usually when you're at effect, you have thoughts such as:

"it's tough right now because of the economy"

"other people are making things difficult for me"

"If it wasn't for X, Y or Z…… I'd be more successful"

"If only I had more X, Y or Z….. things would be better"

"I can't see how things are going to turn out well for me"

"Success isn't coming my way"

"My boss is making my life hell"

"My partner is making me unhappy"

These are the things that can go through your mind when you're 'at the mercy' of the world and its challenges.

2 - Being at 'Cause' means you think that you are the cause of the things that happen to you and around you.

In this case your questions are:

"How did I make this happen?"

"What am I doing that's attracting this?

"Why am I choosing to react this way?"

"What is the reason I am choosing to feel this way?"

"Why am I choosing to feel bad about my boss?"

"Why and I deciding to feel bad about my partner?"

"I think the economy will make things harder for my business, so what must I do differently?"

"Why am thinking about negative things instead of positive when I know that's a bad choice?"

"What can I do to put the odds in my favour?"

"What can I do to attract success?"

"How many ways are there that I can get the results I want?"

"Do I have a strategy for getting motivated when I slip into a poor mental state?"

I'm sure you can see the difference - It's HUGE and makes ALL the difference in the world.

If you're struggling with your online business and feeling like 'everything is against you' or 'success isn't coming your way', take a few moments to ask yourself - "What am I doing to attract success to me?" or "How can I change the way I do things so that they're easier and more likely to succeed?"

When you realise that YOU are in control and you create your results (rather than 'they happen to you') you'll stop thinking about why some people seem to have all the luck, and why other people have success - you can be sure they're not getting it by letting it happen to them, they're rolling out the red carpet and turning on the success magnets and attracting it like there's no tomorrow.

The big difference between the two positions if you didn't already spot it a mile away is that from one position you have no power - things happen to you. In the other position you have all the power in the world and there is no situation that leaves you unable to expect a better future.

When I've traveled I've seen people thriving and succeeding in the most diverse situations, that many of us would naturally think would make you give up hope. It can mean the difference between happiness and depression.

In relationships it means you're always in control of your emotional happiness and while  you can let people in and be loved, you're under no illusions that you can only be happy if they behave in the right way or do the right things - your happiness is your choice. Happiness is a process where you're constantly deciding whether you want to feel happy - when someone doesn't put out the trash - you only feel bad if you've given yourself a set of rules that says in this situation you should feel bad. The same applies to love - YOU decide to allow yourself to feel loved based on the filters you have.

When you put yourself at 'cause' - you have control of your life and your results.

So, whenever I start to feel bad or worried about something - I just ask myself if I'm at cause or effect. I've been doing it long enough now that as soon as I ask myself I already feel better because I know from past experience that I always end up realising feeling bad isn't the right choice and doesn't make sense.

If you want better results for your business - put yourself at 'cause' and get real about what you're doing and what you expect to be the results of that, and whether you need to rethink or adapt your current strategy.

At the very least - you never need to feel about about it.

Andy

I posted this on a well-known forum and got a massively positive response and thought I'd share it here too.

This post is for newbies to the forum and IM in general.

You may have heard the term 'sell the sizzle not the steak'? (it means if you're selling something sell the exciting part rather than just give boring description of the product itself)

Well - I'm just here to warn you that much of the sizzle you're being sold doesn't actually come with steak.

Here's a reality check.

Most people in IM are not making money. Probably 90% of those who are - are making less than they're spending on IM stuff.

Of that remaining 10% - probably half of them are not making enough for it to be their only income.

Making 'good' money online REQUIRES A LOT OF WORK.

Now, I know you're being fed sizzle that says - here's how to make a few grand in a few days, and yes it is possible - I've done it and even shared how I did it, but……

Even when someone says it and it's true - it's not the reality for most people that try to copy it.

I'm not just saying this from personal experience - I get out and about a lot and meet people, other IMers who are working hard to make money - most of them are not really making any money.

The real kicker to this is - that is regardless of what tools, courses and systems they've bought which promise to short-cut their success.

These tools, systems, courses, ebooks, videos etc…. will not suddenly make you great money.

The MAIN factor that will effect your success is - HOW MUCH WORK YOU DO.

Now, obviously there's a certain amount of knowledge required and many people are buying information products and coaching etc to short cut their knowledge gathering - that's absolutely fine and a good idea.

But I'm telling you - if you think that you're just waiting until you finish your first ebook - then you'll be rich, don't kid yourself. 70% of IMers have written at least one ebook and even if they sold some, it usually doesn't last and it's just a tiny part of making money.

What you don't see is just how MUCH people making money really do.

For instance - I have several hundred websites of my own and several hundreds blogs and social accounts etc…

Why? because it means that I don't need to rely on anyone else for me to be able to get traffic, links and sales to my own products.

The biggest problem most people have is being able to turn their traffic on when they need. If you have that targeted traffic tap - then you can always make money.

The problem is - it takes time to build it.

I know that people are always telling you to get this tool or that system - the thing is - did you notice how every one of them seems to be the 'only one you need' or 'the best tool of its kind' - and the underlyng assumption is that it's all you need.

The Twitter tools are a classic example - as soon as a few marketers realised that Twitter is popular and people will buy stuff if you tell them they now need twitter and the latest Twitter abuse tools - they create whatever they think is what people want to see and sell the hell out of it.

It probably won't surprise you to hear that most of the Twitter 'automatic adder' tools will get your account banned. Twitter hates people abusing their systems the same as Google does.

These tools are not the answer to your problems.

They're adding to your problems.

With all that said - we're making the situation worse every time we buy into the latest hype or tool.

The things you're doing to 'help' yourself are the very things that are sabotaging your success.

Looking for shortcuts all the time is NOT the way to be successful - can you imagine an olympic athlete saying "I'm going to stay in bed today instead of my morning run - I have this drink that says it will give me energy when I need it", or for that matter a farmer who waits until 2 weeks before harvest and then tries to quickly grow his crops at the last minute because he couldn't be bothered to put the time in and plant them when they should have been.

You need a plan - a plan that actually points you to a successful result. Not some generic thing that 'should get you 'some' results.

If you went to your bank manager and said "I need $5k to start an online business" and he asked "so can you show me how and when you'll make that back" and your answer was "well, I'm going to spend $2k on this traffic course, then pay some people I don't know below minimum wage to write articles for me and then just watch the cash roll in" what his reaction would be?

There are 2 pieces of advice I would like to humbly offer you today.

1 - Don't underestimate the amount and consistency of work that is being done by people who seem to be 'easily and quickly' making great money.

2 - Before you invest yourself fully into your online activities (this is something you need to do really) when you get to the point where you've read about or heard of an 'easy' way to make money - take a deep breath, sit down somewhere quiet and be really honest with yourself and ask this question - "Do I really KNOW what the plan for my online business is? (are you hoping to pay your mortgage, or support your family) and will the activities I'm planning to do be able to get me there? if I'm not sure - are they activities that I can measure and be able to tell whether I need to supplement/replace them at some point?"

People will tell you all sorts of things, usually for the right reasons, often out of enthusiasm or excitement - but most of it will not be true for you.

Don't base your business and your dreams on what people are telling you. Use your brain, assess things for yourself and make a plan that's right for YOU.

Certainly model the success of others but don't expect copying people or buying the latest "how to make $5 in 5 days" WSO will answer your problems.

Ask yourself the questions that challenge whether someone is trying to make you cut corners and not do your business in the way you know really needs to be done.

Take your business seriously and don't kid yourself that hard work is involved. Almost ANY IM money making strategy will work if you just get focused and take consistent action in a direction that you understand and can see how and why it will work.

Don't waste your money buying lots of tools - they're just there to help you be more effective once you already know what works for you.

And don't be afraid for ask for help - working with others makes your IM journey MUCH more fun.

Andy

Ok, it's now the new year and since my last post where I'd been sat in a coffee shop planning the year I've been busy doing things.

I've had a bunch of graphics done, written a bunch of content, planned some videos, bought PLR rights to some products and bought a cool traffic generating system so that I can offer all of my customers a bit of free traffic for their websites.

It's not really a good idea to give myself extra competition but I know you'll kick me if I don't point you to check this out
I won't let the cat out of the bag about my new products yet, but I'll be giving one of them away for free in a closed giveaway that will have new stuff that comes from serious marketers. It's not open yet, but if you're looking for more traffic youself you might want to get onboard (warning, it's $100 to join so only for serious people)

Check it out here

Your online friend

Andy

I just watched a really creative and fun little flash video and wanted to share it with you.

Check it out:

Just go there, click play and sit back and be entertained for a few minutes.

Andy

Hi,

I just heard back from Terry and he's had some people ask if he could provide a payment plan.

Being the savvy marketer that he is, and wanting to make sure as many people a possible can take his business forward and make money in 2010 - he's created a payment plan.

I just bought the package outright as soon as it was available (literally - I kept going back to the page until it went live), but I know that for many people the payment option will make all the difference, especially coming up to Xmas.

This is just what most people will need to feel confident that they can start 2010 with a professional business in place that has all of the resources they need to be a player in 2010.

Terry has laid out ALL of his business assets for us to use. I'm really excited myself and I'm already making money and have my own plans, but this is such a no-brainer I couldn't say no.

Also - I used my friend Johns affiliate link, so even he's happy that I bought it.

If you want to buy it and you use my link (CLICK HERE) I'll even give a one hour coaching call to discuss how to use it in your business (for free. I usually charge $297 for these).

So if you're on the fence, check it out and see how it can help you build your business.

Terry Telford leaving package

Andy

Hi,

Fellow Internet Marketing Terry Telford has decided to focus on his offline business and sell up the keys to his online empire.

This is not for everyone, this is serious stuff and can take your business to a new level.

I'll be honest with you - I've just bought it myself. (no kidding)

I hardly expect many people to be serious enough to get this, but I wanted to make sure that you were aware of it.

I won't bore you with the details of the sale page - I want you to read that yourself and see how valuable it is.

Just check it out now while it's available

I've spoken before about the Pareto principle and the need to ensure you're spending the right time and the most effective activities.

Lately I've been rehashing my life and deciding what's important and what I want to spend my time on in 2010.

Aswell as my IM activities and consulting business, I've decided to build-in my music in some way that also brings me an income (to ensure that I have one extra reason to ensure I'm still doing something often.

So, I spent the morning sat in my favourite coffee shop running myself through a 'wheel of life' workshop to make sure I'm considering all of the things which will be affected by my choices and that I end up with a well-formed outcome that means I'm making money while doing things I enjoy and include all of the things which are important to me.

This exercise is a great way to ensure that you're actually doing the things which are important for your business to grow in the way you'd like.  If you've been thinking about how to make 2010 the best year ever for your busines, take some time out to sit down and think about how you spend your time and whether your current actions actually line up with what is needed for your business to grow the way you want.
Andy

While I was wandering around my local country park this morning, for some reason I noticed the noise of the birds more than usual, with all the sqwarking, chirping, squeeling and tweeting I could hardly hear myself think.

But for some reason it reminded me about online marketing

There was something about a group of hungry birds, of all types, flocking around one particular area that reminded me about the phrase I often use in niche research - "find a hungry market".

The was, I probably walked 3 miles around the lakes of the park today and although these birds could gather anywhere, they were mostly at this one spot.

The reason why - There was a child throwing bread.

Now, usually when it comes to marketing it seems like you need to go and find the hungry crowd, but apart from going to the country park, this form of marketing seemed to state that even if you're only in the vicinity of the hungry crowd - if you have something they really want, they'll find you and spread the word.

This is much more powerful than you chasing around trying to convince them you have what they want.

Throwing a little out there for them to taste results in them following you pretty much wherever you go in the hope you'll provide more.

This is actually a very powerful insight and something which many people fail to realise. You don't have to chase down your market - you just need to be in their radar with the right product at the right time and they'll find you. As long as you create excited followers - word will spread.

Try and see for yourself.

Andy

Online success or creating revenue can be really simple and most people complicated way more than necessary.

I gave this advice to someone and thought I'd share it for you here.

You don't really need anyone to give you a system. I know this is what most people are looking for - but in reality you have all the information you need within a few clicks of your mouse.

If you've been around a while, you'll already understand what's necessary and it's probably just a matter of you choosing a direction and going with it.

The beauty of the Internet is that you can choose your own model for making money that works your skills and suits your preferences.

No-one else can give you what you're after.

There are MANY different ways to make money, and unless you get behind one and work it - it's irrelevant which one you choose.

If you do fully get behind a model, again it's almost irrelevant which one - most will make you decent money if you take them seriously.

There are only a few aspects to it and I'm sure you already know them:

1 - Identifying a group of people that you can access that want something.

Accessing them is the hard bit, but even that can be easy in most niches with the use of PPC, so there's really no reason for not being able to do this.

2 - Having something to sell

Accessing people is only useful if you have what they want to buy - again this is easy as you can slice this any way you like and don't have to re-invent the wheel. Sell someone elses product, make your own, outsource it, information, audio, video, software, services etc…. you can do whatever works.

3 - Creating a way to make follow-on sales

This is usually as simple as putting an auto-responder in place with a series of follow-on offers to ensure you keep that relationship with the customer and allow them the opportunity to buy more from you.

This also acts as building intrinsic value in your business which you can eventually sell if you don't intend to keep running things yourself.

4 - Leverage, Scalability and Systems

The big area most people miss out on is taking things to the next level. Creating your business in a way that doesn't take all of your time, money or energy to keep it growing is where the big money is at. As long as you don't try to do everything yourself - you can grow your business way beyond your own abilities.

That's about it….

Andy

Hi,

I've been looking into creating vector images a lot lately as I have several reasons for needing them.

If you're unfamiliar with Vector images, they're basically images which have a lot of computations done on them so that they can be resized without losing the quality. So when they're drawn they're described by mathematics rather than just with only the information to describe them at the size they were drawn.

This means if you need to resize images for use in any of your marketing efforts, T-shirts, press releases, ebook covers etc, this might be just what you need to do.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, here's a good article I found that describes how to turn a jpeg image into a vector image.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4421430_convert-jpeg-vector-image.html

That is free, but if you're looking for a program, here's another place I found. I'm not affiliated with them, so use at your discretion.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4421430_convert-jpeg-vector-image.html

Have fun

Andy