I don’t know if it’s just me but when I joined My BlogLog earlier this year the comments from people joining communities tended to be personal and generally complimentary about each others blogs. Recently, I’ve noticed that most of the comments are of the “take a look at my blog – competition, great new opportunity blah, blah, blah”.

Seems to me that the option to broadcast to all community members has been too good to miss for most and I personally think this is a shame. It will end up with the real bloggers giving up on MyBlogLog because of this spam.

This is very important.

Anyone hit by the original Google slap needs to know of the new approach they are taking. To see the full impact of this…

Follow these steps:

1. Go to Google

2. Click on maps.

3. Click on get directions. (top of screen)

4. Type in from ‘ Atlanta ‘ to ‘ Paris, France ‘.

5. Scroll down the directions to number 22

A little radical?

Let me know what you think

Wizzer

google slap, google rules, google

I came across this brilliant set of free information today. If you run a membership site or run an affiliate program then this is a must for your customers or members. (You’ll also find it of great use yourself – even if you are just starting any form of internet business).

The program shows how to create your own site from scratch to monetization and it’s FREE.

If you want to go even further they offer a very good price paid membership that provides masses of products and tools and the knowledge needed to sell them.

It is well worth a few minutes of your time to take a look.

Wizzer

What would you do?….you make the choice.
Don’t look for a punch line, there isn’t one. Read it anyway.

My question is: “Would you have made the same choice”?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: “When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?”

The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. “I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.” Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, “Do you think they’ll let me play?” Shay’s father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay’s father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play.

The boy looked around for guidance and said, “We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.” Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.

His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father’s joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, “Shay, run to first! Run to first!” Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second!”

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball … the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, “Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay” Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, “Run to third! Shay, run to third!” As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, “Shay, run home! Run home!” Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

“That day”, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, “the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world”. Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you’re thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you’re probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren’t the “appropriate” ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the “natural order of things.”

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it’s least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete
2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.

Makes you think doesn’t it. Please post your comments

Humbly

Wizzer

Just in today.

MyMegalist launches – this Very Special List building and Free Traffic program has been in the making for 10 months! And today marks the official Launch of this long awaited, much heralded, program!

The #1 key to online success is building and marketing to your own mailing list. Now, build your own MEGALIST – FREE – It’s an awesome viral autopilot machine

Take a look – if you want to build a list (and if you don’t you’re probably in the wrong place ) this may be just right for you. Just click the link above.

Go on – “Do It Now”

Wizzer

Many people are not up to speed yet with RSS and syndicated feeds etc – there lost some of you already – so I have added an automatic email feed to the WizzerNews blog.

All you need to do is enter your email address in the box and hit the button.

Every time a new item is posted you’ll receive an email copy.

You can also use this same service to receive email updates from other blogs.

Once you receive email notification & you confirm your sign up to WizzerNews you’ll be automatically taken to your control panel at FeedBlitz. You’ll find full instructions there and you can simply add the URL of any blog you want to your list.

One more thing – this really is cool and there’s no cost at all.

I hope you like this new feature.

Let me know what you think by posting a comment.

Wizzer
“Do It Now”

Far too many subscribers are still under the impression that running a business on the internet costs too much. I really don’t agree and my guest article today covers that point with some great examples…

Affiliate Marketing is TOO Expensive

I once got an email from a gentleman who asserted that affiliate marketing as a business simply wasn’t for him.

Why?
Because it is too expensive!
Huh? Too expensive?
WHAT’s too expensive?

Let’s assume that because he sent an email, he already has the basic equipment and software that he needs to start an affiliate marketing business – that being a computer, email software and an Internet connection. I’ll also assume that he has a desk on which to store that stuff, a chair on which to perch and a telephone line. Nothing extra to buy or lease there.

Perhaps it was the huge initial outlay of $8.95 at godaddy.com to register a domain name? He must have overlooked the discount. You can save two bucks a year when you register for ten years in advance. That’s got to be it.

Then again, there are those ongoing monthly $9.95 web hosting and $17.95 autoresponder charges. That’s $27.90 a month.

Yup, that’s pretty steep. (Sheesh.)

What about all those products to buy and stock?

Oh ya, you don’t have to buy SONY’s TV’s or Dell’s computers to sell them as an affiliate. Not having to buy them will also save a big chunk of change in storage fees at the warehouse as well.

Hmmm…. that ALSO means that as an affiliate, you don’t have to ship those heavy items.

Actually, those affiliated merchants are pretty good guys all around. Not only don’t you have to buy, store or ship the product, you also don’t need to deal with those pesky customers. Just send them from your site to the merchant’s site, and the company will handle all the sales details. They’ll take the customers’ money, figure out your share and send you a check.

Pretty sweet deal.

Maybe it was the cost to build a web site that bothered him. Yes, graphics programs and HTML editor software can get pretty expensive, but there are plenty of low and no-cost options available. If building the site yourself proves too time-consuming, there are also excellent graphic designers who sell beautifully designed web site templates for less than twenty bucks.

Oh, I know! It must have been the cost to advertise. Hmmm… the last time I checked one of those national magazines, it cost about $1200 to get a 1/12th of a page ad in black and white. Your ad could be seen by up to three quarters of a million people. But how many of those readers would actually be interested in your message?

By contrast, that $1200 could buy up to 120,000 clicks from a targeted audience on the Internet. What method do you think would be more worthwhile in terms of return?

Furthermore, when you use Internet pay per click advertising, you don’t have to spend the whole $1200 in one shot. You could try a $50 test ad. Analyze your ROI, return on investment. If it’s not satisfactory,rework your ad and try another test. In the worst case scenario, you’ll gain a few subscribers to your newsletter to whom you can promote other products later.

I personally work and rework my ads and aim for a 100% return on my advertising investment. Where else are you going to get that kind of return on your money nowadays?

The stock market? Your bank account? The race track? The latter probably has the best odds of the three.

OK, so let’s do a tally to see how much, or how little, it could cost to start an affiliate marketing business on the Internet.

The expenses are as follows:
domain $8.95,
hosting $9.95,
web site template $14.95
and $100.00 for a test ad.

Total outlay for the first month equals $133.85. Assuming a 100% return on your advertising investment, you’ll have earned $200.00.

In the first month you’d already be in the black – $66.15 richer.

Affiliate marketing on the Internet is one of the least costly businesses to start, and one of the very few that contains the possibility of profit in the first month.

If a C-note is too big an investment in a business that has brought financial freedom to thousands, then perhaps it’s best to stick with ‘the day job’.

And, I didn’t even touch on all the money and time you’ll save by working at home.

Next time.

Author’s Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling “Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online“. To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit NetProfitsToday

I think it is vital that we are realistic.

There really is no such thing as a worthwhile business where you do not need to spend anything. The most important point is to make sure that the money is spent on the right things. Cheap isn’t always best but on the internet it pays to be careful. How many products are set at $997 etc. Are they really worth that?

There are many, many great products and services available for nothing and low cost.

Rosalind mentions autoresponders and HTML editors as two potential expenses.

I will post articles on both in due course but in case you can’t wait I strongly recommend the following:

Autoresponder: AWeber – probably the best Autoresponder service available.

HTML Editor: Nvu – fully featured and really simple to use AND it’s free!

In keeping with my theme that an affiliate business is not TOO expensive – here is a brilliant FREE resource. Starting from scratch these videos will show you exactly how to register a domain name, set up and build a mini sales site – even if you know absolutely nothing about starting a web based business.

“Do It Now” – go to MiniSitesSecrets

Sorry if I’ve overloaded you today – but I can’t resist providing you with such low cost, relevant information – all without the usual hype.


Until next time

Good fortune

Mark “Wizzer” Wilson
“Do It Now”

Here’s the Special Report I promised in my recent email.

I really believe this will help your business. When you’ve read the “sales” page scroll to the bottom and Click the Golden Key to bypass the order page and get it for Free.

Hope you find it useful.

Wizzer

OK, that’s a bit strong.

But over the past 3-4 weeks I’ve been working away at my desk and the number of emails I’ve received selling me this or that new program that I simply MUST have or I may as well give up my business is beyond belief.

What makes it worse is that most of the emails come from the same group of “gurus”. My respect for these guys is dropping by the minute.

I had believed some of these guys really did care about helping the newbie get started but now I’m not so sure. They all seem to be promoting each others program, product or seminar and are offering sweeteners from “far too many bonuses to look at during a lifetime” to even “diamonds”!

My view is quite simple – YOU DO NOT NEED ALL OF THIS STUFF.

It sits on your shelf or hard drive rotting away and you don’t even look at it.

When you are starting out you just need a strategy: be that as an affiliate (as you know my favorite); creator of your own product or service or Adsense site promoter.

To be successful you MUST NOT flit from one idea to another. You need to look at yourself first and decide that you will “Do It Now”. If you are not prepared to “change” and do something different and now, not tomorrow, not next week not never – surprise, surprise nothing will change.

Having decided, you’ll need to select a program and focus on that and nothing else. Sure, you’ll need some extra tools, some help with traffic building, help with list building and copy perhaps but you will not need piles of different programs and ideas cluttering up the place.

Let me know what you REALLY think and what you REALLY need to move to the next stage – whatever level you’re at right now.

Good fortune

Wizzer