YouPostAds

Are you too broke to make money online?

Everyday we are constantly reminded about how bad the American economy is. People are losing their jobs left and right. This may sound a little harsh, but if you work at the unemployment office, you have an unbelievable amount of job security right now.

I’m sure that many of us have had dreams of ditching our 9 to 5 for the freedom, flexibility and profitability of making money online. Many of us share the same daily anthem, “How can I make more money today, than I did yesterday?”

Is the old adage is true? Do you have to spend money to make money? Let’s face it, money is tight. (At least that is what they tell me on TV). Is it possible for someone to increase their business, or launch a new one on an extremely tight budget?

If you are new to Internet marketing you have a large learning curve to overcome. The same can be said if you have a desire to make money online blogging. The good news is that there are plenty of books, info products and memberships that you can purchase that will help you get up to speed. You can also hire a mentor to help you learn the ropes. The bad news is that all of these goods and services come with a fee.

Your budget may not allow to pursue any of these options. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of great free stuff online. However, I don’t know any elite internet marketer or blogger who did not to spend money on advertising and/or information products. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.

What happened? The internet was supposed to be the thing that allowed people to go from rags to riches.

I know there are hundreds of places online where people can make money for free. If you want to click through hundreds of ads and recruit people to sign up, then yes, you can make a good amount of money on those types of sites. If you are a member of such sites, feel free to drop your affiliate link in the comments section below.

If you are on a budget and can’t invest in information products, advertising, memberships and mentors, you can still learn to succeed. My best advice to you is to read blogs, read blogs, read blogs. There are tons of great blogs that provide free information about how to succeed online. There are also many quality podcasts that will help also.

I’ll discuss some of my favorite blogs and podcasts in future posts. Do you know of any other ways to overcome the online business learning curve if you are on a tight budget?

The Top 3 Things Network Marketers Would Do With a Stimulus Package.

Companies like AIG and Ford get saved by the government while thousands of other businesses are forced to shut down. Many economists say that we should see this as the government making an investment, but that hardly seems fair.

I’m sure there are millions of families that would love for the government to “invest” in them. Unless I’m mistaken, bad investments are what got us in this mess in the first place.

Fortunately, I’ve developed a better plan. What would happen if the government gave money to network marketers, instead of these huge companies? Would the economy bounce back? Would talks of a recession end?

Don’t get me wrong, the money that was given to Ford, GM and Chrysler is going to keep millions of people remain employed. However, just because new cars are being built, that won’t guarantee that we will all run out and buy cars.  One thing I know is that network marketers spend money and lots of it. Giving an network marketer extra cash is like throwing a steak in a lion’s den. Don’t blink, because it will be gone quickly!

Here are the top three things that network marketers would do with an economic stimulus package from congress. (This post is completely tongue in cheek, i.e. for fun)

1. Reduce Debt
Many internet marketers launched their businesses using credit cards. Subsequently, many internet marketers went into extreme amounts of debt launching their businesses. We could all expect many of them to use their hand out from the government to pay off some of those credit cards. We could easily be talking about thousands of dollars per person here. That’s what happens when you spend a couple of thousand dollars on your “start up” package. Throw in advertising and leads, the next thing you now, those credit cards are now maxed out.

2. Opportunity Leads
Other than making money, the goal of any network marketers is to tell as many people about their opportunity as possible. The rationale here is that if you tell as many people as possible about what you are doing, eventually somebody will take the bait. So, after the network marketer annoys, I mean, exhausts his list of friends and family, the next thing to do is to pay for names.

That wonderful stimulus package will now be used to pay a company for a list of names, complete with email addresses and phone numbers. The first 200 names were unsuccessful, but this list will have the people who are ready and willing to turn their life around with a great MLM opportunity. Unfortunately, there are many companies who will sell you a list and turn around and sell some of those same name to someone else.

3. Self Improvement
I hear people say all the time, that in order to make money in MLM, you have to have a certain mindset. Some people are born with it, while others need to have that killer attitude developed. In an effort to make more money, have more time, live their dreams, etc, many aspiring network marketers turn to information products like Magnetic Sponsoring to discover techniques and strategies for success in network marketing.

All network marketers should grab a phone right now and call their congressman. You want the economy the improve? Why not throw some money at network marketers? Money would be put in the hands of credit card companies, banks, MLM lead companies, and self improvement gurus if network marketers were given a stimulus package. Wait, all those people get a lot of money now. Well, they would get a lot more. Let’s throw a bunch of money at people who already had a lot of money to begin with. Isn’t that the government way?

Am I missing something? How do you think network marketers would use their stimulus money?

What is up with the “G” ads?

So there I am watching football on New Year’s day and I start seeing these “G” ads. In case you haven’t seen it, the ad goes like this. A bunch of athletes and regular people are displayed across the screen one by one while some mysterious voice is providing some type of commentary. I saw this commercial at least three times yesterday and I can barely understand what this voice is trying to say. At the end of the ad the letter “G” was displayed on the screen. There weren’t any other logos or text.

The sad thing is that after seeing the ad at least 3 times, I still didn’t know what the heck “G” is. Sure, the ads were appealing by showing athletes like Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, and Mohammed Ali. Unfortunately, that was about the only good thing about this ad. Advertising is supposed to convey a specific message about a product or service and this ad failed at that basic premise of advertising.

I started pondering who is the company behind this mysterious “G” ad. After seeing Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, I immediately started thinking that this was a Nike ad. Then I figured that Nike was way too smart for this. Nike would have put a swoosh at the end of the ad. After a few more seconds of thinking, I realized that I had watched a series of Gatorade ads.

As advertisers and marketers, let’s not follow Gatorade’s example. Whatever you do, please make your advertising clear. The last thing you want to do is create an ad, that makes the consumer think it belongs to another company. Call me stupid and old fashioned, but including the company’s name, logo and/or web address could never hurt your efforts.

My initial thought is that this ad was a waste of Gatorade’s money. Someone else might say that the ad creates mystery and generates buzz, especially since it will probably cause people like me to talk and blog about it. Right now I am a little undecided about the overall effectiveness of the ad. I think the whole thing could have been done a lot better.

Grouply Revisted: ETA on Google Groups Support

You just have to love the power of Web 2.0. It lets you connect with your customers/users on an extremely personal level. Yesterday, I made a post about Grouply’s lack or support for Google Groups. Today, I received an email from Mark Robins, Co-Founder/CEO of Grouply.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how he came across my post. According to Robins, “support for Google Groups will be available before the end of the year.” That is good news for anyone who is a member of both Yahoo and Google groups. With support for both services in place, Grouply can be extremely beneficial and time saving.

Robins provided a good real life example for us all. Connecting with customers and users is what seperates the Web 2.0 community from the brick and mortar or bricks and clicks communities. In Web 2.0, we can connect with people instantly and often. When customers know that their opinion matters to you, they will take a more vested interest in your product or service.

Grouply: Not yet ready for prime time

This is just my humble opinion, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the world does not need another social network. If I what to tell people what I’m doing, I have enough sites to help me make that happen. I really don’t need another one.

The other day someone sent me an email about Grouply. This site touts itself as the site where you can manage “All your Yahoo and Google groups in one place.” My first thought was that this is a pretty interesting idea. Yahoo and Google groups are pretty decent places to network with other people and blast your ads. Having one site to manage all my groups would save me a ton of time.

I decided to give Grouply a try. After 10 seconds on the site I found one major flaw. I saw a message that had me completely scratching my head. “Support for Google Groups is coming soon!” Well, unless I’m mistaken isn’t the premise of the whole site supposed to be about managing both Yahoo and Google groups?

So, without support for Google groups, you are left with a glorified version of Yahoo groups. If Yahoo Groups married your favorite social network site, their love child would be Grouply. You can do all of the conventional things like make friends and update your status.

Grouply does have some promise, but without the addition of Google Groups, it is useless. I’m sure there is a logical reason why the creators launched the site without Google Groups support. I don’t have any idea what that reason is, but I’m hoping it is a good one for their sake.

So, here’s my final take on Grouply. For right now, don’t waste your time. There are other ways to connect, spam people (I mean advertise) and stay in touch with friends. Once Grouply figures out the whole Google Groups support dilemna, the site will have a lot more usefulness.

Be the chairman of the message board

Most Internet marketers will tell you that message boards are very good places to promote your website or business. That is very true. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know how to use message boards effectively.  Most people look for the thread on a message board that says something like “Place Your Ad Here”. To be honest, I’ve placed ads in those threads myself.

If you think that message boards are just good for the “Place Your Ad Here” thread, then you are greatly missing the boat. Most people on message boards don’t care about your website or business. Well, at least they think they don’t. In general, people join message boards to give and receive quality information, not to read a bunch of ads.

In order to really benefit from a message board, you’ve got to make your presence know. Just like with blogging, you will attract attention in a message board if you make quality posts. I’m talking about two things, the threads you initiate and the comments you make on threads initiated by others. Don’t be afraid or hesitate to comment on someone else’s post.

OK, so maybe you don’t have any genius insight to contribute and you are just on a message board to learn things. That is completely acceptable. In that case, here is what you should do, ask questions. People on message boards love to help people out. You can ask questions like:
“Have you ever experienced…”
“How do you deal with…”
“What do you see as the future of…”
“What do  you think is the best…”

The Most Important Thing
This is critical. Make sure you have a signature line on ALL posts. This may sound elementary, but you’d be surprised at how many people do not leave a signature at the bottom of their posts. Your signature should include a link to your website(s) and a tag line. A catchy tag line is likely to peak more interest.

Remember, your main goal in message board marketing is to get exposure. Yes, you want to learn and interact, but exposure is key. Don’t be discouraged if people don’t reply to your posts initially. Keep working to try to make your posts and post titles as compelling as possible. If your post is viewed 300 times, with only one comment, that isn’t necessarily a failure. Good luck!

Read your way to business success

I’m always amazed at how people jump into a business without really knowing about the industry they are getting in to. This happens a lot in onlines businesses, probably because it is so easy to get started.

As our society evolves, reading becomes more and more underrated. So many of us want instant gratification. We’d rather watch something on TV instead of reading a book. It is a shame that so many people turn away from reading.

Before you jump into any business or industry, it is important to read up on it. If you want to make money being a blogger or have any other online business, you need to do a lot of reading beforehand. Markets are too competitive and people have too many options. You need to know what you are getting yourself in to before you start.

Let’s take multi-level marketing (MLM) for an example. Success in MLM takes real work and a lot of time. Forget what those TV commercials tell you, it just doesn’t happen magically. In order to be successful in MLM, you need to read. You need to know the truth about the entire industry. You need to know the type of things that your “upline” or “sponsor” won’t tell you.

Reading makes you an expert. In our society, experts make a lot of money. It is just that simple.

Don’t know where to start? Start with the Internet. Being a dedicated reader is a habit. Get your feet wet by starting to read blogs and ebooks. Try going to the library and picking up some books and magazines also. Eventually, you will want to buy books, so you can have your own personal library.

Through my own personal reading, I’ve learned that the most successful business people in the world are extremely well read!

A mixed URL can make your life easier

I’m always amused at how people display the URL of their website on message boards, emails and other places. Your URL is a big way to advertise your site. It says a lot about what your site is about.

Chances are, your URL consists of more than one word. When displaying your URL, your main goal should be to make it as easy to read and understand as possible. People don’t want to decipher any codes in order to figure out what your web address is. It’s all in the display.

For example, let say I have a fictional website about my life in Gotham City. I could call the site www.myadventuresingothamcity.com. All those letters with the same case can be difficult for people to figure out. The case of the letters do not matter when a URL is entered in a browser. If we change the case of the letters for better readability, it would look something like this www.MyAdventuresInGothamCity.com.

I admit that the URL in this example is pretty wordy. However, you have to agree that mixing the case of the letters provides for greater readability. The next time you type out your URL, try capitalizing the first letter of each word. It should add a nice little boost to your advertising efforts.

Dear Sir, Please link to my site

Every website owner wants higher rankings in the search engines. One of the best ways to make that happen is link building. Search engine algorithms place high importance on link popularity. There is no way for any of us to avoid. If we want traffic, we need to get other sites to link to our sites.

Leilea Davies recently published a post about how to write letters to webmasters asking them to link to your site. You can read her post, Link Building Letters on SEO Scoop.

An Informed Markerter is a Successful Markerter

Information is critical in the world of Internet marketing. It is important to know who you are doing business with on a daily basis. You also want to make sure you stay on top of the latest trends. The competition is so heavy. The last thing you want to do is get left in the dust.

I recently came across this post by Willie Crawford called 4 Stealthy Sources of Powerful Internet Marketing Intelligence. This post provides some great insight about how to stay on top of the flow on information and become a more intelligent marketer.