Do you sometimes read blogs that contain just text? No images or photographs. What’s your impression? If the text is well laid out and with great headings to change the look then this is fine, particularly whewre an image may detract from the message but otherwise I personally lose interest AND fast.
Part of the problem is that most of us aren’t designers and creating an image or icon that is just right for a particular post is just not going to happen.
A while back I bought a set of icons that I’ve been using on various sites (see my post at WizzerNews.com for some examples) but I recently came across a great site where you can get hundreds of icons for virtually anything you could desire - all for free.
The following screen shot from Icon Finder shows the results when searching the term “photo”. Really neat.
Simply type in your keyword into the search box and all the relevant icons are dosplayed. If you prefer to see what other people are searching for (perhaps that will give you an idea for a post subject) you simply click on the Search Cloud link.
For example I randomly clicked on the term “file cabinet” and was presented with this page:
Just be careful when using the icons that you are not in breach of any licencing rules - so be certain to read the details located just under the search box on the IconFinder site.
Let me know how you get on with these. If you let me know whewre you’ve used the icons I’ll happily list the urls on this blog.
November 29th, 2007
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Following on from my post about video and audio on squeeze pages - Magnetizer Page Mastery - I decided to join the PreSale Videos program promoted jointly by Todd Gross and Derrick VanDyke.
I’m really pleased with the simplicity of this.
Effectively you get a link to a webpage with a pre made video already embedded wth your affiliate links to a range of products that Todd and Derek know sell well. Typically they are high fliers on ClickBank. For example, here’s the video for the craze of the last week or two.
As soon as the video ends your visitors go to the relevant sales page for the product they’ve just been hearing about.
What is really good is that you don’t even need a website to run with this because they host the videos so all you need to do is get the link to your subscribers. It really is as simple as copy and paste.
Personally I prefer to work a little harder by putting the links on relevant web pages but for those looking to just dip their toes into internet marketing this could be a great way to get started.
There are 12 videos available immediately, all professionally presented by Todd Gross (ex weatherman turned internet marketer) and the plan is that 2-4 will be added each month. In addition members are actively encouraged to recommend products to promote and these will also be added each month. Todd will even create a video for your own product at what I think is a very low cost.
If you are looking for a professional squeeze page I think this is well worth your consideration although you should work out a way to add a name and email capture form into your strategy.
You even get a free 7 day trial. Take a look at the quality of some of the videos here:
Free Monthly Gifts
Zero Effort Graphics
And if you like what you see you can join via this video
November 16th, 2007
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I’ve neglected my duties to this blog this week! It’s amazing how the days slip away without notice and then you measure by reference to the last blog post. And there’s me working so hard at reducing the time spent on “stuff” so as to use my time more wisely on effective tasks!
In fact, that’s exactly what I have been doing. After finishing my usual business tasks this week I’ve focused on finalising the “pieces” for one of the online businesses I’m creating using the 6M Profit Method.
MAGENTIZER or SQUEEZE?
I’ll be updating the My Action Line page in due course but for now I want to talk about squeeze pages or as Lisa Diane prefers, Magnetizer Pages. I quite like that term. magnetizer pages, myself because of the positive connotations rather than the thought of any visitor to my site being squeezed!
As my focus for this particular business is affiliate products rather than my own I needed to put up a magnetizer page so I can record visitors for future contact and to provide them with ongoing help with their businesses. Most “affiliates” just send people via their link direct to the “vendor’s” site and thus miss out on the possibility of developing a relationship with those visitors, which may get a sale from time to time but is no way to build a long term business.
VIDEO or AUDIO?
Now, I’m not certain whether magnetizer pages work best with audio / video / or just words but as I’ve seen so much about video being necessary on sites these days I thought I’d give that a try first. I guess much depends on the PC and connection specification of the visitor but as I already had access to a professional video I put it on my Ultimate Internet Business magnetizer page.
I plan to test response by also using a non-video page and I’ll post the results after a trial period.
BRANDED or UNBRANDED?
I have a question nagging away at me to which I cannot find any online wisdom - maybe I’ve not looked too hard. Should a magnetizer page be in the same style as the rest of the site? From a branding point of view I think it definitely should but since the objective is to get the visitor to sign up I’ve started to convince myself it’s not important as the branding can take place with actual subscribers. Let me know if you have a view on this by posting a comment below.
At this stage, unless someone convinces me otherwise, my non-video magnetizer page will not be site branded. Although I’ve become OKish at creating web pages from templates I really am not skilled at design work - you know layout etc so I started to look around for some templated squeeze pages. I don’t want to pay the monthly cost of some of the services available but found a really good low cost option with some designs I like. Obviously they won’t be original but with a bit of tweaking I’m hoping one of them will do the trick. I’ll give you link to take a look as soon as I’ve finished.
SUCCESS UPDATE
As an aside, following on from my post about Success Defined last week I am pleased to say the sales are continuing at a similar level this week - pretty much on autopilot from the work I did several months ago. I’m beginning to really believe I can move on to this full time at some stage!
October 18th, 2007
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The 4-Hour Workweek is so important to absolutely anyone looking to improve their life this post will run into a number of parts!
You’ll know from previous posts that Wizzer (yes, that’s me) was fortunate to be the Weekly Winner at Create Business Growth a few weeks ago and I chose “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss as my prize. (Sadly I’d not heard of this best seller at the time but thought the title sounded interesting). At that time I was posting about being in the “zone” and how things you need manifest themselves at the right time. I also said that I’d undoubtedly find something in the book that was appropriate to my needs.
Wow - what an understatement!
This book is essential reading for ANYONE
looking to make improvements in their lifestyle
For years I’ve been making excuses to myself for not doing things due to a lack of time, you know “I’ve got too many important things to do - that will have to wait” - steady, I think I saw you nodding in agreement 
Well not anymore!
Although I am very familiar with a few of the concepts Tim writes about; Pareto Principle (or the 80/20 rule); Parkinson’s Law (activities expand to fill the time available) and for years I have not read a newspaper either, I have never considered taking such a radical approach.
Following Tim’s suggestion I have drawn up a list of my best clients (in my day business) and have made a decision to concentrate on only them. The time this will save me will be incredible - time I can devote to being effective in moving my life forward.
I’ve also set up a system for minimising the time spent on idle chit-chat at the start of any phone conversations and to prevent email interruptions during the day. I’m taking a leap of faith with this but have every confidence it will work out.
I’ll be posting more about my progress and with reference to this essential book over the coming weeks.
Christine - I can’t thank you enough for this.
September 5th, 2007
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I’m back!!
Two weeks away and the mountain of emails, post and telephone messages is unbelievable!
I’ve got so much good stuff to post over the next few weeks but before I forget I must give you a recommendation.
I’ve been using this product for a few years and it is absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t survive without it! I mean it, my life would come to a standstill without it.
What reminded me to write about Roboform was that I also use the PenDrive version which enables me to take details of all of the websites I visit together with the user name and login details with me wherever I go. So, during my two weeks away in Spain all I needed to take along was my pen drive and I had access to every site I ever visit - without having to take paper records of passwords etc. which could easily be lost.
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RoboForm is totally indispensable.
You simply download the free version - you will need the pro version very soon if you visit loads of sites like me (in fact if you are serious about any form of online business I recommend you get it immediately) - set up your own password that will be needed to access all of the other passwords and you are ready to go.
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Every time you visit a site that requires a user name and login you are prompted by the program to see if you wish to save the information. You create a folder hierarchy - just like any Windows folder structure - and then every time you visit that site you are automatically logged in. Cool.
In addition you can just save favourite sites that don’t have login details so you can take them with you when you are on the move. If you use a pen drive you simply plug it into a USB drive of another machine, enter your RoboForm password and have access to all your sites - just like on your own machine. When you’re done RoboForm cleans up after you and there is no trace of the information on the machine you’ve just used.
Of all tools I use this is without doubt my favourite. You can get the Free Download here.
September 4th, 2007
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A brief interuption to my 5 Lessons.
I just downloaded a great e-book (free of course) from Todd Gross’s new(ish) site. There’s a great tip for getting Opt-ins to your list using other people’s efforts. If you’re into internet marketing / business building (I guess you are otherwise you’re unlikely to be reading this) I strongly recommend Todd’s site - Monthly Free Gifts. The e-book is called something like “How to Get Other People To Build Your List” - you can’t miss it it’s highlighted on the sign-up page right now. I’d join the site for this one tip!
July 31st, 2007
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Who’s heard of Ed Dale?
You know the Tubby Nerd?
I met Ed briefly at a conference in Wembley London where he was a speaker talking about his “underachievers” program. He is a great public speaker - made the whole thing come alive for me.
Each year Ed runs a 30 Day Challenge where internet “newbies” (how I hate that term) are taught everything they need to know to make money on the internet within 30 days.
Due to a family holiday I’m unable to take part in the challenge myself but I have been following the information on the 30 Day Challenge blog and if you do nothing else during August so should you.
In a few short hours yesterday I learnt things about iTunes I never knew existed. I learnt about a great add-on on Firefox called Session Manage and it is something you really ought to take notice off.
Rather than re-invent the wheel and tell you about it here - get over to Ed’s blog and watch the videos. He has a great style (some of my loyal readers may recognise his accent!) and the videos are so well put together.
Have fun learning.
July 25th, 2007
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At the end of last week I posted about Squidoo.
Today I checked my stats and found something quite incredible.
A lens I created on 22nd February 2007 CostaEsuri is now sitting at position 11 out of 73,500 for the term Costa Esuri.
What I need to explain is that I’ve done nothing about Search Engine Optimisation for that lens. I simply created it and have been steadily adding small amounts of extra content on a regular basis.
Yes, I’ve joined a few groups and have used the link in forum comments but the real issue is that Google just loves Squidoo Lenses.
I’d dearly love to see this site at number one on Google - I can virtually guarantee there’s nothing in it that will be in competition with anything you do - so I’m looking for your help.
Please go over to the Costa Esuri Lens - rate it 5 stars by clicking on the “Your Rating” stars at the top. Then go to the Guestbook at the bottom of the page and add a comment with a link back to your site or blog. The best way to do this is to add your comments and include a link in your comments using the following format:
<a href=”http://www.YOUR SITE” target=”new”>YOURSITE TITLE</a>
When you’ve done that I’ll add you to my lensroll if you have a Squidoo Lens or visit your blog and add it as a favourite increasing it’s visibility. Thanks in advance - please leave a comment below if you’d like me to provide more information re Squidoo in future posts. (By the way I used Squidoo Secrets to get me started on this method - see my Blog Traffic post).
June 18th, 2007
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This post may turn into an epic! If you don’t have time to read the whole post now bookmark/favourite this page or subscribe to the RSS feed so you know where to return. You’ll be glad you did because there is an enormous amount of great information and resources here that will save you time and really get your business rolling.
Over the past two weeks or so I’ve spent much of my time collecting together and researching resources that I’m going to need as my business builds. I thought that anyone following my journey may also find these useful - it will certainly save you hours of time searching out these resources and information.
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Years ago I read THE book, yes the definitive book, about getting your mind straight for business & life success - “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill
Get your complimentary copy, my gift to you, by clicking the link above. I’m not even asking for your email address but if you’re grateful please add a link to this blog from yours and click the “Vote for Me” button. Thanks
The first M in the 6M Profit Method is all about getting your mindset right and focusing on what you do want rather than what you don’t want.
PLEASE - read that paragraph again. This is the most important lesson someone embarking on a business venture could ever learn. The concept may be new to you, it may sound too spiritual or even a little weird but think about it. If you smile at someone they tend to smile back - kindness attracts kindness. If you’re rude to someone they’re usually rude back. YOU CREATE YOU’RE OWN REALITY so make sure you create what you want.
I’ll be posting more about mindset and positive focus later.
As you may know I’ve been “messing about” online for a while and have a couple of blogs and sites already (nothing earning anything but a few Adsense pennies) and I had been getting tired of paying $8-10 per month for each site I wanted to host. After about 3 it starts to get expensive and costs mount up. That has all changed. I hadn’t realised that by setting up a “reseller” package I could have unlimited domains hosted all for just over $20 per month. The best thing is each domain has it’s own cPanel (let me know if you need help with this) and a simple WordPress blog install. I used it for this site.
I use HostGator (OK I like the Gator as well as the service) and I have found them faultless so far. Each time I want a new domain I simply add the name (purchased elsewhere - see below) and a new account with it’s own login in details is created immediately. If you are likely to run more than 2 or 3 sites then I really recommend you think about setting up a reseller package with HostGator.
For domain names I’ve recently taken to Go Daddy. Why? Firstly they’re very competitive (if you avoid all of there up-sell techniques), you can find discount vouchers on line, and I’ve found the change of nameservers to my hosting company to be virtually instant.
At this point I’m still deciding on my exact market for my new business - all will be revealed very soon - but in the meantime I needed to get proficient with blogging as I see this as a great way of learning much about the internet and in particular generating traffic.
WITHOUT TRAFFIC A WEB BASED BUSINESS SIMPLY ISN’T A BUSINESS!!!
I’ve already mentioned Squidoo in previous posts but I’ll add some more details here because I’m finding out more all the time. I decided to create a lens (Squidoo terminology for a kind of website) listing all of the free resources I’ve come across that have been really useful to me. Things aren’t included just because they’re free but because they are valuable. Rather than list them here take a look yourself (add some more free resources if you know of any) - there are links to sites to create polorised images; free graphic design software; free text editors; ftp software; hex colour identification and so much more.
The point of mentioning this lens is that I’ve discovered the traffic benefiting actions of joining groups, adding comments to other lenses and adding existing sites to your lensroll. Essentially, the way I see it, the more links and exposure your various sites can get the better chance of increased traffic. At this point I’m just testing and experimenting so when I go live with my “new” business I know just what needs to be done.
I’ve been following a blogger called Yaro Starak for some time now. He’s Australian and calls himself the Blog Traffic King! He’s just released a free report Blog Mastermind Blueprint, which I recommend to anyone with a blog. It covers everything from why blog, how to monetize your blog, how to generate traffic - in short a complete guide to blogging. Of course, it leads to a suggestion you should join his Mastermind Group but that’s OK with me, particularly since I’ve seen his blog grow over the past year or so and he clearly knows what he’s doing. I’ve learnt a great deal from this report already and will continue to improve my methods using his teachings.
In the next few days I’ll post about creating a Squeeze page, in particular a video based page I’ve come across - if you can’t wait for the details you can take a look at the page I created here - and how to cloak affiliate links.
June 15th, 2007
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Before I get back on track with updates about my progress with 6M I have been looking at various traffic generating methods. It’s all very well posting this information but if nobody reads it…
For some time I’ve been creating Squidoo Lenses - really simple to do and if done well they produce near instant traffic and get ranked well by Google. Take a look at my Free Resources lens as an example - this is work in progress and took very little time to create. Much of the content comes from visitors!
I was reading a post by Mike Paetzold at Word Press Made Easy about blog traffic and he also refer to Squidoo as a good source of traffic along with using Technorati and good SEO techniques.
I find all this stuff fascinating and just wish I had more time to get an even deeper understanding.
May 25th, 2007
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