It amazes me when 10 days go by, in a flash mind you, and I realize I haven’t posted to this blog. The fact is there has been a ton of activity online and off, with the arrival of my newest service Impact Advertising, along with increased activity over at Whole-Hog-Blogs.

That doesn’t take into account the numerous phone calls and emails I get throughout the day. I, unlike those “millionaire gurus,” work, work, work online – and regardless of what they claim you do not have to do, it’s all b.s. You must work to get things done.

Ever had a “reality” job? One outside the virtual world? Do you think the employer would allow you to show up and just sit there for 8 to 10 hours doing nothing? Yeah, I didn’t think so (and if you DO know of a job like that, let me know LOL!).

Actually living in Nevada, we feel the pain of the economy I believe worse then most other places in the U.S. And, pretty soon, we’ll also be feeling the heat – not because our legislature is capable of making any decent decision on how to run the State – but because summer is coming.

Our spring lasts from a few days to – if we’re lucky – a couple of weeks. Then BAM! It’s into the 100s and stays there well past the time most folks are starting to experience autumn.

For those online, now is the time to really hunker down and get to work. Whether you outsource some of your marketing and advertising or choose to continue going it alone (or in team packs if you’re part of that sort of affiliate program), now is not the time to drop your guard. I’ve watched too many people work during those “cold winter days” and nights, only to be suckered away from their keyboards as the “nice weather” sets in.

That’s not to say you don’t, and shouldn’t, take a break every now and then. But just do yourself a favor and avoid the “great now I have to start all over” syndrome when fall hits and you’ve let everything slide. Now that’s depressing (and costly)!

Okay, it’s back to work for me and thanks for taking the time to read.

DO NOT FORGET that COMMENTING and leaving your name and link to your website is the smart strategy!

Commenting on blogs has got to be one of the best ways to generate back links to your own website and/or blog. The simple act of reading a post, looking for the Comment link or button, filling in the fields with your name, an email address that is never used, and the all-important link to your web site makes sense not only link-building wise, but it also enhances your own reputation online.

Another tool to add while you comment is an Avatar that represents either yourself or your website or just a symbol to associate you with the image.

From the Wordpress web site:

According to the Gravatar.com website, Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars, or an “avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites.” You register with the Gravatar server, and upload an image which you will use as your avatar. The gravatar image is keyed to your email address, so that it is unique to you.

From the Gravatar.com site itself:

Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

If you click on the title of this (or any) post, you’ll easily get to the commenting section. This post also shows either the number of people who have posted a comment or – in the case of a brand new, not yet responded to post – a No Comment. You click on that link and you are taken to the area where you can add your two cents.

Adding an image further enhances your online presence. And Gravatars are a simple way to do that. So not only is commenting FREE, but an excellent linking building and personal or product name branding recognition marketing method.

Just be sure that you comment on what you read. Comments that are nothing but ads are considered spam and are deleted.

It’s your time involved – but a free marketing strategy to use. Make good use of your time and make yourself stand out from the crowd by signing up for, and using, your Gravatar.

(Note: Blogs and forums that allow gravatars will automatically detect and pull in yours. You don’t have to do anything other than signup, for free, for your own gravatar.)

(P.S. The new services ARE coming. Just final testing and tweaking going on.)

We’re all aware of the immense power of YouTube, but do you realize what that actually means? YouTube serves up over one billion videos every day. Yes, one billion!

Any marketer, particularly if you are into affiliate marketing, should slate targeting YouTube as a must-do for 2010. If you’re already using YouTube… keep at it!

Here are a few things to consider – six techniques really – that will make the difference in publishing lame videos versus rock star ones:
continue reading "So You Want To Be A Video SEO Star"

You’ve heard me mention “our local newspaper” (the Las Vegas Review Journal) several times – whether here on this blog, or over on the Online Internet Marketing blog. While its reporting has certainly changed over the course of time (heavy on the right wing to say the least), they also insert the Las Vegas Sun (a more balanced view of the world in my opinion). Also the Sun’s editorials and opinions tend to be much more “hey, this is the real way life is” versus… well don’t get me started – this isn’t a political post this time.

But today is one of those days where I found some interesting advertising facts (in the Sun) that I’d like to pass along.

It has to do with demographics and marketing and advertising to the right group of people… women. Purchases, health care choices, appliance buying, and holiday travel plans are largely determined by the woman of the house.

Here’s a breakdown, because stats are always fun:
continue reading "If You Don’t Think Women Rule, You Best Read This"

This is one of those email you receive from a family member that is just too good not to share. So versus sending it out via email, I thought it would make a wonderful post. Good news for handling the holiday season and well beyond.

Mostly it’s just plain funny

Three Little Words That Work!

(1) The three little words are:  ‘Hold On, Please…’Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company’s ‘beep-beep-beep’ tone, you know it’s time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a ‘real’ sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering,
continue reading "CBS Andy Rooney Tips for Handling Telemarketers"

I owe a huge thank you to everyone who visits regularly, and comments often, on this blog! It’s been a chore trying to reconstruct (I won’t bore you with the details, you can read the comments of the previous post for that), and I think I’ve run almost to the end of being able to put it all back together again.

A special thanks goes out to the clients of My Wizard Ads, the participants at CommentExchange, readers and visitors from Twitter and Entrecard, all my other social media communities (sorry too numerous to list!), and those coming here from the Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and more.

Sort of an Academy Award speech there, but I am touched that so many have given me words of encouragement and/or place their faith and trust in me (particularly those over at Whole Hog Blogs).

Now to get over to the forum and start paying some of my visitors in return!