Projects To Start 2012
Tweet* Motivation
* Sorting out my many Software / Program purchases to decide which are worth using in 2012
* More Work on The Buyer Code but problem with Theme
* My luck could be changing - two LOST program now back and working
The last few weeks have been a busy period both with family and making modifications to business plans for the start of 2012
* Motivation
I have read a few books recently to help my motivation and now have renewed determination to continue with a much more positive attitude. I do believe that having negative thoughts can only lead to failure and it is most important to never give up as success can, and hopefully will be, just around the corner.
* Sorting Out My New and Old Purchases
I think my main task during the first few weeks of 2012 will be to take stock of my past purchases of Software / Programs and decide which are going to be useful for me to fit into my business plans. This will probably give me a shock when I see the amount wasted on a lot of useless material.
On the positive side I have built up a vast amount of very useful programs and information which can be put to good use.
* Working on "The Buyer Code"
I am not having much success with the software and theme that was provided with "The Buyer Code" and now looking at purchasing a new theme such as "Wordpress Review Theme".
My problems are with the CSS editing where the drop down menu options stop working for some unknown reason so I am not able to work on changing the Header Graphics and Text Style and Size. Most of the problems could be solved manually but I am not advanced enough to work that out.
What should have been a simple installation using the software provided has been more of a major problem wasting a lot of time trying to get the same results by doing manual installations. It appears that I am the only one with this problem so it must be due to some of my computer settings.
I had hoped to have had my first site completed by the start of 2012 but will now have to wait until my Theme problem is solved or maybe after all this time I should abandon this program and look for an alternative.
* My Luck could be changing for the better
At last my luck seems to be changing as two items I thought were lost have now come back to life.
Camtasia studio 3
A number of years ago I obtained a free copy of Camtasia Studio 3 from Techsmith but lost it due to a hard drive crash. I could not find the acceptance email and code so could not get another copy.
Recently I was searching one of my external drives and found all the required information and now it is up and running. I am looking forward to making use of Camtasia and even though it is an old copy it is still very powerful.
SiteSales.com
The next good news was that a site where I bought lifetime membership, but thought it had gone down, has now come back to life.
In July this year I joined SiteSales.com which is described as a Platform to build and manage websites. This was a special limited offer for testing the product before launch which started off very well but contact with the developer was lost and the program was not upgraded as promised.
This now appears to be on go again with new webinars and promised upgrades but no indication of a launch date. Before it can be offered as a monthly subscription site it will need some improvement as it will be competing with the recently launched Autobuildit which has a starting price of $47 per month for one site up to $97 per month for unlimited sites.
My investment was $497 for life time membership including building unlimited sites and when launched it could be in the region of $67 to $97 a month depending on number of sites to build. A final price has not been announced.
On that basis I have a bargain as long as the development continues and the program is launched to cover future development costs.
It looks like I have a busy time in front of me but must keep focused on one project at a time.
Best Wishes for 2012
Mike
Amazon Associates Product Sites
TweetOnce again it's been a long time since I posted on this blog and a whole year has slipped by without a lot of progress even though I have been extremely busy.
I still have the intention of creating my own product but for the moment I am concentrating on building websites to promote Amazon products for commission payment through their Associates programme.
Throughout the year I have noticed an increase in the amount of promotions for products on building Amazon sites so decided to give it a try even though I failed at my first attempt two years ago.
There are many different ways to go about building these sites so I purchased a few up to date tutorials and decided to start off with one called The Buyer Code by Rob Walker, Craig Kaye and Mike Auton. This is very similar to a product I have already purchased called Info Product Killer (IPK) by Craig Kaye but there are more in depth video tutorials in this package.
The whole idea is to build a quality multi page site for a single product or a range of related products and fully optimise it to rate high on the first page of Google for a specific search name / title.
My first task has been to find a popular hot selling product with a minimum value of £80, at least five ratings having no lower than 4 stars, whilst at the same time not having too much competition on Google. One problem is that Craig Kaye and many other established marketers already have multiple sites running which makes it difficult finding suitable products / domain names and also competing against them.
I am convinced there is still a possibility of making a substantial income from this method and will continue adding content to my site over the holiday period and follow instructions on ways to help it climb in Googles rankings.
This method does not work overnight and can take up to 3 months to show results so during that time I will attempt to build a few sites.
It is not difficult building the sites once you get to know what is required and how to find the required information. If you are creative then you can also work on the header area and add some relevant graphics.
Other products on this subject are:
Proven Income Method by Jan Roos
Azon Spy by Mark Thompson
Amazon Treasure Chest by Colleen Slater
Rapid Profit Formula by Matt Carter
They all show their own way of building sites for making Amazon commissions and great information can be gained from all of them.
If this attempt fails using The Buyer Code method I will have a go using the Proven Income Method by Jan Roos which concentrates more on product reviews and shows how to outsource most of the hard work if you can afford it.
Below you can download a free 4 page report about The Buyer Code
Click Here - Your PDF is ready for download
Blog update to start 2011
TweetLast year turned out to be a difficult year in many ways both online and offline but a lot of valuable information was gained for building on in 2011. I have learned that we must not dwell on past problems but be very positive and stay focused on what we are doing at the present time and also plan for the future.
I have decided that one priority this year is to see Dave Nicholson’s Coaching Programme through to the end even though I am only half way through and all the other original starters have probably finished and have products to show for it.
After seeing the quality of some of the completed products it puts my effort to shame but the content will be usable to a number of people who are less experienced than myself and it will be offered for free with no upsell, but not sure whether to include some affiliate links for certain recommended products/programmes.
To save cost on graphics for my ebook I decided to have a go at doing them myself using a programme called RealDraw Pro (30 days free trial, then $55 to purchase) and a set of training videos that I purchased from another source for $27. After going through the videos twice I was ready to give it a try and found it very easy and addictive. The only problem is that the programme will only do hard back covers and not the thin soft back type with a curve at the top.
The book is not complete but I will show the cover as it stands at the moment. I could make many improvements by working more on the graphics and text but for the moment it is going to remain as shown.
A few months ago I decided that I was going to change Autoresponders so cancelled with Aweber but then found that the one I was going to change to was no longer available. It was not a major problem but I had to make some quick changes to my online sites including this blog. At the moment I am testing out a programme called Infinite Responder which installs on my hosting and does not have any separate monthly charges which is a good cost saving. It is obviously not as powerful as Aweber but seems to be adequate as a starter. I need to spend more time testing before deciding to stay with it or start looking for something more established.
That’s it for today.
Mike
Update – Long time since last post
It has been a long time since my last post but I am still around and as keen as ever to complete my business setup and start helping others. I have encountered a few minor problems along the way but this makes me a wiser person and more determined to stay focused on my original business plans.
My product creation for the Coaching Programme came to a halt and I felt abandoned but I have picked this up again and with some extra help from another course I should soon be back on track and hopefully see it through to the end
There was no set time limit for completing the course and as I have downloaded all the lessons I can work at my own pace but not sure how long Dave will be available for further help.
One thing that has worried me for some time is not having a proper backup of my whole system especially my blogs so as a starter I am looking at ways of cloning my blogs. This will give me a backup as well as an exact copy for use when building another blog.
Jason Fladlien recently did a webinar with Dave Nicholson promoting a method of cloning which is very quick and easy to do but is too expensive for me at the moment so I am testing a cheaper method. This method requires a little more work and takes about 10 minutes to clone but the cost will only be a one off payment of $5 for the 23 page step by step guide.
My licence does not allow me to give this away for free but I will check the price whilst doing some trial runs to see if I can reduce the time taken to complete a clone.
Back From Holiday – Return To Dave Nicholson’s Course
TweetIt’s a few weeks since I last posted on my blog but time passes so quickly and I have been on holiday in Spain. It is now cooling down in Spain but has been a pleasant 27 to 32 deg C and I soon felt the cold when arriving home to an afternoon temperature of 14 deg C in the UK.
It has been a nice relaxing break where a lot of the time was spent walking on the beach before the sun was too hot and the rest of the day reading a book or local newspaper. I had taken my laptop with the intention of working on my product for Dave Nicholson’s coaching course but I forgot to pack the essential cables for my external hard drive where all the information was stored.
In the end I finished up visiting the local Internet café every other day just to check my emails and keep my inbox to the minimum for when I returned home. It was too hot in there to do any serious work.
Going back to Dave’s course, I have been undecided about the subject for my product for some time, which has brought me to a complete halt at only week 5 out of 12. This break has given me chance to go over what I want to do on the Internet and I am now going to start on a new product and stay with it so that I can complete the course and then keep moving on.
Mike
What Is Your Business – Do You Really Know?
TweetMany online marketers and their business fail because they do not know what their business is. Those who create or market software think their business is software while those who write ebooks and short reports believe they are in the ebook information business. Neither one is even close.
People trying to run a business whilst not having a clear idea what their business actually is will be unable to produce succesful business plans, write compelling sales copy or build a loyal following. This will bring about the failure of their business.
Regardless of what your product is, your only business is MARKETING. It doesn't matter if your business is online or offline - your business is MARKETING. Successful marketers are the ones that develop a marketing mindset; no one was born with it. They have learned how to think like a marketer and to make decisions marketers need to make.
Your first step in this process is to develop and build a marketer's mindset, rather than for example an ebook seller's mindset. If you've been selling products on eBay or on your own website, you've probably been consumed by finding interested niches, driving traffic, testing ads for conversion rates and building a list. As necessary as those tasks are, they are the product of a seller's mindset and, while you might make some sales with that mindset, your business will not soar to new heights.
To be able to develop a powerful marketing mindset, you will have to learn to focus on the one question that will govern every step you take online. All of your business decisions have to be looked at though this question: "How will this action provide true benefits and create loyalty amongst my customers?" If you cannot provide an answer to that question, you might want to rethink your plan of action.
No matter how much planning, designing, researching and testing that goes into a successful marketing campaign, the customer is actually in charge of your business. All your success depends on a sale of your products or services and that is 100% dependent on your customer and THEIR needs.
Once you have developed a successful marketer's mindset, you will understand the motivations that make your customers buy from you. You have to establish what they need and what they want before you start offering products to them. Become a member of several forums, read the questions that are asked in any category and focus on providing solutions to them. That's a ready-made, customer-driven market for your specific answers, provided as a short report, longer ebook or services.
In the past, marketing was all about selling products to a constantly changing market made up of anonymous customers who made a purchase and disappeared. Giant sales promotions based on holidays or current events were designed to bring that anonymous customer back to the store or service to make another purchase. The customers were still anonymous.
In today's marketplace, the worldwide Internet, the demand has shifted from anonymous marketing to building personal, nurturing relationships with customers. This change now demands exceptional, over-the-top customer service to build trust from an early stage of product promotion. Your customers need to develop a personal, trusting relationship with you or they won't even open your emails and, eventually, will just unsubscribe. Click...Gone!
Also gone are the days of an Internet of quickly-built, simple web pages promoting products and services to an anonymous audience. In are the new marketing principles based on a social Web, with people interacting directly with each other and mega businesses. Open communication and honest answers have become the driving force behind any online relationship.
Those relationships are dynamic, vital and dependent on the customer's behaviour, attitudes and interests. Now, a single customer in a very small isolated town can reach out and grab the attention of a mega company on the other side of the globe and have an effect on their customer service or the products they provide.
Now that's worth thinking about!
Soluto – A Freebie To Install
Today I installed a free handy tool called Soluto - (Anti-Frustration Software) which may also be of use to you. I first heard about this in one of Martin Avis's Kickstart Newsletters and then it was mentioned today in Randy Smith's blog so I thought it was worth a try.
It is an easy to install programme to help shorten the computer boot up time. You can Delay the launch of applications until after boot, or better yet Pause them and launch them when you wish. Applications and services required by the computer are listed but cannot be removed.
As it happened I did not have may applications to remove so not much difference in speed but you may have more installed.
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Also today I spent time tidying up my various accounts and passwords saved in Roboform. I'm not sure what I would do without this handy programme as I am always forgetting or misplacing my many passwords.
It is also much easier launching programmes, emails, websites from the Logins dropdown list.
Roboform is not free (unless there is a limited use version) but it is a one off payment with free upgrades (terms and conditions could change) and when needed the customer service has been excellent.
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For the rest of my day it is back to working on my first product.
Hello World! – My First Post
I have started this blog as part of Dave Nicholson’s coaching course but had a slight delay as I joined late and then went on a 2 week holiday to Spain.
It was nice to take the holiday but I had planned on devoting a few hours each day to working on the course by having an internet connection at the apartment. This plan failed as my laptop would not pick up any signals and it was taking too long sorting out a deal with the local providers.
In the end I just kept up to emails at the local Internet Café using their computers as my laptop still would not pick up any signals at the Wi-Fi Hotspot. I visit Spain on a regular basis so for future visits will look at purchasing a 2 week non-residents package with booster so I can continue working on my business.
Now I am back home there is a lot of catching up to do and especially deciding on the type of content to include in my blog. My main theme will be internet marketing as that is what I have concentrated my learning on over the past 4 years.
I am now stepping up my online activities to increase my knowledge on anything internet marketing related so this can be passed on to subscribers in the way of free information, product reviews and general help on motivation and having a desire to succeed.
I attended my first 3 day Internet Marketing Workshop in May this year which was held at the Holiday Inn, Bristol, UK. This event with its great promoters and speakers has boosted my enthusiasm and convinced me that I can succeed if I stay focused on my goals. I would recommend you attend a workshop if at all possible. They are normally low cost apart from accommodation but it is worth staying local to the event so you can meet up with all attendees after hours.
As this was my first workshop I was very nervous and missed many opportunities to introduce myself to the speakers so one of my goals this year is to earn enough to pay for myself, plus my wife, to join Mike Filsaime and more than 400 internet marketers on their annual Caribbean Cruise next January (maybe January 2012 will be more realistic). This would give me chance to meet up again with many of the speakers that were at Bristol plus many others and get my face and name known and then hopefully one day I may get a chance to do a joint venture.
My other 2 goals are first to successfully complete Dave Nicholson’s Coaching course and also to get myself back to a reasonable level of fitness for my age and then complete a blog on being Healthy and Active that I started a few years ago.
Many years ago I used to do long distance cycle racing, circuit training, aerobics, weight training, hill walking and many other sports and would like to do some of these again as a break from working on the 
computer all day. For a bit of fun I had my photo taken with one of my bikes as an incentive to get out and ride it again. Not sure about riding on the road again, I may stick to my Mountain Bike for off road riding.
Hope to report on my progress with Dave’s course over the next few weeks plus any useful information on internet marketing.
Mike
P.S. Just to mention that my post has been updated since receiving 5 comments. Thank you.
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