I'm an online entrepreneur who started marketing online in 2002.

Like many of you, I spent well over a year in frustration, buying thousands of dollars of internet marketing products, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I've made all the mistakes and now I want to help YOU avoid making those same mistakes so you can build a successful online business as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Personally, I turned my passion for fitness into a successful online business.

My main site (first went live on February 3rd, 2003) generates about 1,000 to 2,000 unique visitors a day of free traffic. Read More

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More web site traffic seems to be the number one goal of everyone with a web site.

And web 2.0 or social media marketing is an important part of the plan to increase web site traffic.

For a lot of people new to using social media sites for traffic generation the possibilities and number of web 2.0 sites can be so overwhelming that they don't know where to start.

Or you start by trying to do everything, don't see any results and abandoned social media marketing because you just don't get 'it."

So you move on to other traffic systems.

But just like with your overall internet marketing plan, you need to have a plan when it comes to using social media to drive traffic to your web site.

And you need to focus.

This means having a systematic approach and then drilling down, so you eliminate the aspects of web 2.0 that don't work for you and focus on the social media sites that send you traffic.

The upside of social media sites is that you can piggyback on their authority, creating quality backlinks to your web site that generate traffic as well as improve your search engine rankings.

The downside is the sheer number of web 2.0 sites that can be used for a social media marketing campaign.

• Where do you start?
• What sites send you quality traffic?
• What sites should you avoid wasting time on?

You should start by opening and using accounts at the major social media sites such as:

• Digg
• Propeller
• StumbleUpon
• MyBlogLog
• BlogCatalog
• BloggingZoom
• Bumpzee
• SocialPoster

You should also select a few sites specific to your niche as well.

Then begin your social media marketing campaign for more web site traffic. This includes:

• Bookmarking all your posts via SocialPoster
• Submitting your quality pieces to the appropriate social media sites such as Digg and Propeller
• Filling our your profiles completely on the major sites mentioned above, joining communities related to your niche, and finding friends.

Once you've been doing things like this for awhile you'll want to analyze your site's traffic stats to see which social media sites are sending you traffic.

These are the sites you want to focus on to get even more web site traffic.

As an example, one of my niche sites doesn't do well with Digg at all. I get almost zero traffic from Digg.

However, that same site consistently receives traffic from Propeller. I still receive traffic from Propeller for submissions made almost a year ago.

Needless to say, I now focus more on building up my authority in Propeller and don't even worry about Digg.

I focus on participating more on Propeller with submissions, votes, and comments, as well as seeking out new friends.

As you work on your social marketing you'll begin to see which web 2.0 sites are worth your time as far as generating more web site traffic.

You'll be able to narrow it down to your core social media sites as part of your plan to increase website traffic.

This will allow you to become more productive with your web 2.0 time, increasing your results and bringing in more money for the time you spend on social sites.

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Domain names are hot. Recently, Harmony.com was put up for sale. The asking price? $5 million! Ouch!

What would a site on making money with virtual real estate be without talking about buying and selling domain names.

After all that's where your virtual real estate begins, right? Before you have an actual site, you need a domain name.

And a lot of people like the idea of never going further with the development of their site if they can just turn around and sell their domain name for a profit.

It's the ultimate in flipping virtual real estate. But can it really be an ongoing source of income?

On the one hand, more and more people are coming online every day and fewer and fewer premium domain names are available.

What do I mean by premium domain names? First, they have to be a dot com.

While other domain extensions are gaining acceptance, dot come is still top dog.

Second, they need to be short and memorable. Amazon.com. Business.com. Money.com. You get the point.

There aren't even any four character domain names left.

These factors obviously will drive prices up on quality domain names.

The factor that can suppress domain name values is the lure of easy money.

A lot of people are flooding the market nowadays, trying to flip domain names for profit.

They grab a bunch of domain names, list them on ebay for 99 cents and hope they turn a profit.

Why is that a problem that keeps the price of domain names down?

Because it's the easiest route to flipping domain names so it's the one most people will do.

Ebay has been flooded with domain names for sale, practically making it a buyer's market instead of a seller's market.

The idea of buying a domain name, listing it on Ebay and making a profit appeals to a lot of people.

It's easy, quick and (in theory) lots of potential for making money.

Now think about this.

Something like less than 2% of the people that purchase an info product (even one's costing four figures and more) EVER take ANY action!

Which leads me to believe that only a small percentage that do take action ever go the extra mile.

What does that mean to you? OPPORTUNITY!

Very few people who bought an info product on buying and selling domain names for profit will follow through and attempt to actually sell domains on ebay.

And how many of them do you think will try to do anything else?

Most will give up if they don't quickly turn a profit. They won't look at any other avenues. They won't think outside the box.

There are plenty of other places to sell domain names. It may just take a little effort (that dreaded word in the internet marketing world).

• Newspaper classifieds (maybe you set up a site that sells all your domains at set prices [or get an auction script])
• Craigslist
• Digitalpoint Forums
• Sitepoint Forums
• Develop the domains into sites and flip them (selling them in all the alternative spots you've found to sell domain names, as well as taking the time and making the effort to find private buyers).

Of course, these are just a few options.

The point is, just because you didn't get the results you wanted or expected on Ebay doesn't mean there isn't opportunity awaiting you.

You just have to go out and grab it by the neck and give it a good shake.

There are always different ways to approach an opportunity.

Most people, if they take action at all, will go the easiest route and never do anything else. The more you do, the less competition you will have.

I'll leave you on a lighter note. A friend of mine directed me to this. Enjoy! Bad Domain Names

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With all the people I've helped, either teaching them to make money blogging, or in my fitness business, I think the absolute BIGGEST mistake they make is not being a finisher.

Whether it's a fear of failure or a fear of success, you avoid them both by not finishing something.

I'm guilty of it myself.

I have a LOT of unfinished projects, things that could be making me money if I finished them, things I stopped after doing a LOT of work, and moved on to another project.

Whether it's because something else caught your eye that sounded better, or you just want to tweak the content on a page before it goes live, or you're waiting for your hair to be just the right length before launching that new web site, they are ALL nothing but EXCUSES.

Excuses are for losers, not champions. Champions don't make excuses.

If you have a project, finish it. Nothing else matters. Get it out there. As Dan Kennedy would say, "Good enough is good enough."

It can be tweaked and improved later. First, it needs to be finished.

Stop with the distractions. Stop with the excuses. Become a closer and you'll see your success skyrocket.

A lot of your success (or failure) in internet marketing (or anything else) starts with your mindset.

Yet, this is probably something people pay the least attention to when trying to achieve goals they've set for themselves.

The latest technique that can help you make money blogging is great, but if you don't have the right mindset and can't focus long enough to see projects through to completion, those blogging strategies aren't really going to help you much.

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If you're pursuing internet marketing (or anything, for that matter) you MUST have the right mindset if you want to succeed.

My friend Michael, over at Marketing Tools Today recently wrote a great piece about this and is allowing me to share it with you.

Here's Michael's take on the importance of the proper mindset in internet marketing:

Written By: Michael Gunn

I was notified the other day that I had a new comment to approve on my blog and so I went to check it out.

Now, I don't know this individual, but below is his message in full and then I am going to comment on it below….

"I have your videos on AWeber. I too thought they would convert.

I sent them to my list of a mere 700 (hit a brick wall 4 months ago and not one sign up since) but not one click. I'm not surprised -

I've been emailing offers since October 07 and still have sales of $0 from the list.

The money is in the list - yeah, right - and pigs fly.

I have no idea what PLF2 is - some guru thing I guess.

I also have no idea what a product "launch" is. You build a page - upload it and hope someone will buy - that seems to be it.

Oh well - the rich do things a different way to us peasants."

And now for my commentary.

First of all, I haven't decided if I'm going to approve the comment or not. The guy may have been having a bad day or real frustrated or whatever…

So let me start here when he says:

"I sent them to my list of a mere 700 (hit a brick wall 4 months ago and not one sign up since) but not one click."

Well, 700 isn't "mere". It is very possible to make some good money with a list this size DEPENDING ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.

But if you have it in your head that it is a small list, then it will perform like a small list.

If you suddenly stopped getting optins 4 months ago, SOMETHING IS WRONG. Find out what the problem is and SOLVE IT.

It might be as simple as your software stopped working.

Also, how did he obtain this list? Were they optins? Co-reg? Has he communicated with the his other than with offers?

People don't like to be treated like ATM's!

Did the mailing even get to them? Who is your autoresponder system?

Have they whitelisted themselves with all the major ISP's? There could be lots of reasons here…

"but not one click. I'm not surprised - I've been emailing offers since October 07 and still have sales of $0 from the
list."

You've been emailing offers but have you been emailing USEFUL CONTENT?! If you're "not surprised" then also remember this
…WHATEVER YOU FOCUS ON GROWS!

I stated way back in January that my major focus was going to be list building.

Every product I have made, every post I have made, every email I have sent has been with that goal in mind.

Since then I have added 2,500 to my IM list in the past four months and I am not doing anything special.

"The money is in the list - yeah, right - and pigs fly."

It's also about attitude. You attract what you think about!

My list is a group of amazing people! I rarely mail out an offer and when I do it is something that will help GROW their business not distract them.

For this reason when I send out an offer it is no surprise that 17-20% make a purchase.

The money isn't in the list! The money is in your RELATIONSHIP with your list.

"I have no idea what PLF2 is - some guru thing I guess."

This is a sign of trouble. If you are going to be involved in a market then you need to be up to speed about the happenings of that market.

"I also have no idea what a product "launch" is. You build a page - upload it and hope someone will buy - that seems to be it."

Hmmm… The "If you build it, they will come" marketing hasn't worked since '94. Maybe not even then. It requires WORK.

"Oh well - the rich do things a different way to us peasants."

Yes, they do. That's WHY they're rich. But you know what else? The rich also THINK differently (Editor's Note: See my post about this - Are The Rich Different Than You for more information about this).

The author of Proverbs said it best in my favorite Bible verse: "As a man THINKS in his heart, SO IS HE"

Here is the part though that I want everyone reading this to understand:

Be honest with yourself for a second… what this gentleman wrote IS NO DIFFERENT than what many of us say to OURSELVES everyday!

He just had the courage to write it!

And it is this type of thinking that is one of the major causes for us not having the level of success that we want. It's time to
change that!

If we are not getting the results we want, we have to change what we are doing!

"If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got!"

If you are not making money online then try this..

Do ONE THING…TODAY that will DIRECTLY result in a deposit into your bank account. Anything else is just screwing around.

Quit giving yourself BS excuses! Everything you need to make $$ online is already on your hard drive.

Isn't that why we're here?

Michael Gunn

See my post about this - Are The Rich Different Than You for more information about this.

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I think when it comes to making money online or off, the rich really are different.

No, they aren't better.

No, they don't have better opportunities (most millionaires in the US today are first generation self-made millionaires - no silver spoons).

You see:

• The rich think long term, set goals and put together a plan of action.
• The wannabe's think instant gratification.
• The rich work for profits.
• The wannabe's work for wages and a "raise" each year.
• The rich take calculated risks.
• The wannabe's take the biggest risk there is - they never take any risks at all.
• The rich concentrate on increasing their net worth.
• The wannabe's focus on increasing their paycheck (a little raise at a time).
• The rich are ALWAYS learning.
• The wannabe's stopped learning when school ended.
• The rich think in terms of ideas.
• The wannabe's think in terms of gossip about things and other people.
• The rich embrace change, adapt to it, and use it to their advantage.
• The wannabe's hate change, resist it, wither and die.
• The rich develop multiple sources of income.
• The wannabe's have one or two.

To me, becoming rich is sort of like how so many people "want" to be a writer, like a Stephen King.

At least, until any of them actually sit down to write. Then we find out they don't REALLY want to be a writer.

What they love is the IDEA of being a writer. They love the freedom, the lifestyle and the money.

Turns out they just don't want to do the actual work that gets those things.

Most people love the IDEA of being rich. They just don't want to do what it takes.

They'd rather complain, be jealous and envious, and hope someone makes some law that forces the hard working successful person to just give them stuff.

So ask yourself, where do you REALLY fall?

Do you WANT to be rich? Or do you just wannabe rich?

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Awhile back I wrote an article marketing case study, which was a step by step plan for easily launching a brand new web site and driving traffic to it to generate instant income or build a list.

That case study grew into an hour and six minute audio interview and pdf report available at internet profit method

I recently created a video taking you through the case study. It's about 19 minutes long.

Check out the article marketing case study video

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If you're like most of us in this internet marketing world, you do a lot of bouncing around from one thing to another, trying to find something that works.

While we're busy bouncing around from one opportunity to the next, we're paying for what we've missed.

This goes back to what I've mentioned previously with regard to focusing on a target to the exclusion of other things.

Every decision you make in your life has a cost, whether you see it or not. While you're busy doing one thing, you're missing out on something else.

And only you can decide how to allocate the limited time you have.

But in order to allocate it most effectively you have to realize what you're missing out on and you have to value your time.

Most people who bounce around from one opportunity to the next ultimately get extremely frustrated because they haven't made any progress on anything.

So they rationalize this lost time and money by convincing themselves that none of these things work.

Instead, you should focus on what might you have accomplished if you had selected one of those ideas, such as article marketing, and worked on that to the exclusion of all other noise.

• Where would you be today?
• Would you have made progress and moved forward?
• Would you have a more profitable internet marketing business today?
• How valuable is your time to you? $10 an hour? $20? $50? $100?
• How much do you want it to be worth? $500? $1,000?

Are you spending your time doing the things that give you that kind of return? Or, at least, potentially that kind of return? Why not?

In the beginning, you'll probably need to do everything, unless you are flush with cash for outsourcing purposes.

But "everything" should be part of one thing.

In other words, if you're doing article marketing, you may need to learn html to create your own content site or squeeze page, set up an autoresponder, write the messages, write and submit the articles, etc.

But those are all part of article marketing, which is your one thing.

Eventually, you'll be able to outsource a lot of that stuff.

Don't be a jack of all trades. Be a master of one.

Pick something. Learn it. Become great at it.

PS Learn how to generate instant cash straight into your Pay Pal account like clockwork every day of the week

==>> Instant income creation

P.P.S. Learn how to quickly and easily create a profitable web site from scratch, with no jv partners, no list, no links from high pr ranked sites…absolutely nothing!

==>> Internet Profit Method

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This post was inspired by If you were starting out in blogging from scratch how would you promote your blog?

It's a great question. After all, the majority of the questions I receive are about generating traffic. Nobody gets enough traffic!

So if I were starting my blog today what 3 blog promotion tactics would I use?

• Forum Postings

Boring, right? Can't get a ton of traffic? I think it depends on what you post and in what forums.

In one of my niche blogs, traffic from a related forum is still my number one traffic supplier for that blog.

I'm an active poster. I provide answers to others. I don't promote within my post.

But every time I make a post to my blog I update my signature in the forum to reflect that, and include a good headline and lead in to make people want to click through and check out the latest post.

• Article Marketing

This can be as simple as writing and submitting articles to top article directories like EzineArticles.

Or you could do what's also called guest posting. You do this by contacting blog owners in your niche to see if they accept guest articles.

This takes a lot more work than simply submitting articles to article directories.

But the payoff can be much bigger as well.

Landing a guest post on a top blog in your niche can get you a high quality one way backlink, a lot of direct traffic from the post, and help people to begin to see you as a go to expert in that niche.

• Social Marketing / Networking

Don't just submit your content to social media sites like Digg or StumbleUpon but become an active member of the community.

Networking as part of your social marketing campaign takes consistent work and there may not be an immediate payoff.

But the contacts you make can mean much, much more to the success of your blog and business over the long term.

These are three very solid, no cost ways to jump start your blog promotion and start generating traffic.

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The internet has tremendous opportunities for people to make a great income working from home including programs like Adsense, Kontera, Chitika or affiliate marketing.

Creating your own product is the next step up and creates even more income possibilities for you.

What you have to realize is that you aren't going to get rich with one $27 ebook. No, you'll need to create other products.

It's a lot easier to sell another product to a current customer than to go out and get a brand new customer. I'm sure you've heard it before.

Let it sink in. It's crucial to your success.

Let's take a look at a sample marketing funnel for your online business.

Internet Marketing Funnel

• Books
• E-Books
• Special Reports
• Manuals
• Workbooks
• Journals
• Audio (mp3 downloads, CD's)
• Video (downloads, DVD's)
• Home Study Courses or Tutorials (multi media)
• Continuity Programs
• Workshops, Seminars, Bootcamps

Here's a sample of an information products marketing funnel.

• Ezine / Autoresponder / Special Report (A digital product to give away for free to build your list)
• $7 - $67 range (all digital - audio, video, ebooks, reports)
• $97 - $197 (some digital, physical products)
• $397 - $997 (Physical products - multi media home study courses)
• $397 - $1997 (In person Bootcamp and Seminars)
• $47 - $297 Per Month (Continuity Programs)
• Various Group and One On One Mentoring

The number of products, type of products, price points, etc. will all vary depending on your business and your niche.

If you've been thinking about creating your own info products, or you already have one, do yourself a favor and start brainstorming ideas for your marketing funnel and start seeing a dramatic increase in your online profits.

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