Dave Taylor Presents Blog Strategies at Davinci

Posted by Marty on Oct 21, 2008

Last night I made the trek to Westminster Colorado to hear the great Dave Taylor teach us how to “make a living from your blog.” I won’t reveal any actual numbers here, but let’s just say Dave is in the mid 6-figure range for annual revenue derived from his blogs. Here are some notes I took from his presentation:

1. Dave told us how some Kontera, Vibrant Media and Infolinks are worth adding to your blog as money generators. And, of course AdSense is the staple that all blogs should have if you want them to become money generating.

2. You don’t have to make blog posts all by yourself anymore. Try Blogger4Hire.com or MarketingPilgrim.com.

3. Dave likes to have the goal of making $275 per day with any particular blog (corrected by Dave in comment below…he actually said any particular “business” as a whole. Thanks Dave…). That seemed to me to be a good number to shoot for instead of having a lofty annual goal that you may never come close to reaching.

4. He showed an example of a tip jar on Ask-Leo.com which won’t put your kid through college but Dave says it’s amazing how many people will buy you a cup of coffee through a tip jar.

5. When it comes to tracking AdSense…track every major keyword phrase with channels. That way over time you will come to know the phrases people are most interested in reading on your blog and you can create more posts for those popular terms.

6. Don’t use Wordpress.com to host your Wordpress blog. If they find out you are using your blog for commercial purposes, they will shut you down. Get a hosting account somewhere…anywhere!…and host your blog there. I always knew there was a reason. Now I know why.

7. My favorite: “If you want to get a higher clickthrough rate in your Adsense ads, create your posts about topics where people are prepared to buy something.”

A good example of that is software. If you write about a new computer virus you just heard of, then AdSense will surely pop a bunch of ads in your post related to viruses. People are willing to invest in a good virus protection software so they’re more likely to click on one of those ads.

Finally, one thing I really liked about Dave’s presentation is that he stopped the powerpoint slides and just sat on stage asking questions. It seems offering to ask questions these days is becoming rare. Great job to Dave and the Davinci Institute for offering this program.

Dave’s presentation was recorded by video and will be made available to Davinci Institute members.

Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies Due March 2009

Posted by Marty on Aug 26, 2008

I finally came out of my cave Monday afternoon after finishing the required 70% complete deadline for my portion of the Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies book due in bookstores everywhere March/April 2009 (Wiley Publishing, publishers of the “For Dummies” books). John Arnold of Constant Contact (E-mail), Ian Lurie & Elizabeth Marsten of Portent Interactive (SEO, AdWords, Social Networking, blogs), and just added, Michael Becker (Mobile Marketing) from Iloop Mobile (personally can hardly wait to see what he’ll be adding about THAT very hot topic!).

It is a true honor to be sharing pages with these industry experts as we make our contributions to what I believe will be the most talked about Internet strategy book in years.

When I was asked what I would like to write about, I immediately said, “the money part of course” So, I get the first section of the book which will be covering topics like:

• Converting more visitors to paying customers
• Writing promotional copy that sells
• Shopping cart setup
• Finding and promoting affiliate products
• Starting and building your own affiliate program
• Joint venturing
• Which website type is the best for you
• Design components that sell
• Hiring helpers so you’re not doing everything yourself

More coming on this topic coming soon but I have to mention that something else has happened in the process of writing this book, which is now listed on Amazon by the way. I think I’ve had more leads for business in the past two months than the first six months of this year combined. How could that be? I haven’t been doing anything differently in my promotions than usual. Must be the book. Just by telling people about it, people are talking about it. The book isn’t even out yet and people are talking about it. We’re not even finished writing it yet and people are already talking about it. Strange but true.

Speed Boot-Up Time for Windows XP by at Least 200 Percent

Posted by Marty on Aug 23, 2008

Need to speed up your bootup time on your PC with Windows XP installed without calling in your computer fixer? I found the perfect set of walk-through videos that speeded up my bootup process on my laptop from 22 minutes to 2 minutes! First, you’re probably wondering 22 MINUTES! Marty!

Well, I let one of my helpers borrow one of my laptops for a few months and when it came back, I fired it up and, yep, 22 minutes to boot. Now, I might have a thing or two up my sleeve when it comes to Internet stuff, but that does NOT mean I’m a computer geek. In fact anyone who knows me (especially my highly competent techie helpers, knows how technically-SAD (as opposed to savvy) I really am. But, don’t tell anyone, okay??

Anyway, I couldn’t wait to get my computer guy scheduled to come look at my laptop, and I’m pretty good on the research front, so, I went to Google and started searching. I came across a series of videos that I’d like to share with you for a couple of reasons.

First, go ahead and try the recommendations to speed up your own boot time if you’re on Windows XP. Actually, two of my computers with Vista I also used this process for and it worked just great.

But, also, even if you don’t need to speed your boot-up time,
visit the site to see how they’ve laid out the videos along with the little commercial they have going on the front end and back-end of the short videos. Then, click on the button to take you to the next step.

Notice how short these videos are. They take you through an ever-so-short series of steps and then you have to take the next move to go to the next page in the sequence and click the video button. It’s really an ingenious layout and a play on peoples’ need for speed. We just want the info and we want it quick. Good job guys and a great example to the rest of us for using instructional video to provide AMAZING and useful content for free to gain trust and brand loyalty. Definitely will go back to this site when I need something they offer. See how that works?

Big Seminar Oct 3-5 2008 is a Must Attend

Posted by Marty on Aug 22, 2008

Whenever the conversation turns to Internet Marketing one name comes up more often than any other name…Armand Morin. Armand is the Expert that the experts turn to and watch for direction.

I first met Armand in 2000 at a conference where he was NOT a speaker. Yes he too was once an “attendee” sitting in an audience learning form other speakers. And, that’s my point. People are always asking me, “Marty, HOW do you learn this Internet marketing stuff?” And, I tell them how much I spend a year on attending conferences and buying educational materials.

In the BIGinning
The BIG Seminar is the place where it all starts. It’s the only Internet marketing conference I attend EVERY time. Why? Because Armand only picks truly cutting edge presenters and gives them plenty of time to deliver tons of content I usually begin implementing throughout the weekend of the conference! Yes, I don’t even wait until I get back to start. I’m too energized to wait! While others are partying at the bar, I’m up until 3am trying out what I learned on my laptop.

Who Attends Big Seminar
The audience is made up of about 40% that are brand stinkin’ new to the web, but you could be sitting next to a multi-millionaire who has dozens or even hundreds of websites. And, that’s one of my favorite things about Big Seminar. You just never know who you’re going to meet.

Money Tight?
If you are strapped for cash, Big Seminar is the ONLY conference I would recommend you attend coming this October 3, 4, and 5 in Atlanta Georgia. And, if you can’t afford a couple thousand dollars toward your own education, you NEED to attend more than others! It’s the only conference I can honestly say pays for itself, for me, within the first week after the conference. It’s that good.

Now, let’s be real…
Big Seminar has an affiliate program. That means if I refer others to attend, I get some of the bucks. Basic sales and basic Internet stuff. And sure, when you register, of course I want you to Register Here through my affiliate link. But, there’s something more…

I always offer to my clients that when they attend the Big Seminar, if they’ve registered through my link (which they always do), they will get to meet with me as a small focus group on Friday and Saturday night in a private meeting room where we can go over what was covered during the day. I answer any questions they have and it really helps to have someone to put everything together into a summary of steps and fill in the blanks. Then, when we get back (because I always fly home on late Sunday afternoon), we schedule a conference call to go over what was covered on Sunday.

See, going to something like Armand Morin’s Big Seminar is not only overwhelming from a content and learning standpoint, but just the sheer experience of it all requires some savvy to navigate through. After all, you’re in an audience with typically 500 or more people. Just meeting the one right person you needed to meet could change your whole life…and your income! But, how do you navigate through Big Seminar?

You need a guide. Someone who’s been there. Someone who knows most of the presenters, staff, and a good chunk of who will be in the audience too. Let me be your guide.

Not Sure Yet?
One of Armand’s trademarks is having phone interviews with the speakers leading up to the conference. Would you like to sit-in as Armand talks with other experts and they discuss their Internet Marketing Secrets?

You can…and it’s free.

Every Tuesday and Thursday up until the BigSeminar Armand will host a FREE training call with one of the expert  Faculty from his upcoming Big Seminar.  They will discuss what they’re doing on the Internet and how they do it.

The calls are FREE…click here now to register for the calls.

Calls times, phone number Passcode etc. will be immediately sent to you via email.

In Summary:
If you’re wondering where all those Internet marketing folks go to learn what’s new and what really works to build a business and increase sales, Armand’s Big Seminar is the place to be. I hope you’ll join me and take me up on my invitation to attend the after-hours meetings to go through things. After you register, be sure to let me know. You can contact me through the Ask Marty contact form.

And, I hope to see YOU at Big Seminar October 3, 4, and 5 2008 in Atlanta!

How to Add a YouTube Video to a WordPress Blog Post

Posted by Marty on Aug 19, 2008

The question “How do I add a YouTube video to a blog post?” comes up a lot when talking about blogs. The answer is simple to begin with, but if you add the right plugin to your WordPress blog, it’s even simpler than you might believe.

First, let’s start off with an example video that I searched for on YouTube. No, this isn’t my boy, just someone I came across from searching. Hope he appreciates the video views we’ll be bringing his way!

I went to YouTube.com and searched for 7-year-old-guitarist, being a guitar player myself. When you use a YouTube video, you sure want to choose one that will be of interest to your viewers. If you’ve ever played an instrument, you’ll surely be amazed at this little guy!

After I decided to use this video as my example, I started a blog post which looked like this:

Then I clicked my mouse in the position I wanted the video to appear on my page and then clicked on the YouTube plugin icon that I installed when my blog was originally setup.

This video plugin can be found within your WordPress account by searching for Viper’s Video Quicktags. Simply download the plugin and install it as the instructions describe. [Note: If you’re not familiar with basic blog setup techniques, check out my Ultimate Blog Checklist.]

Notice when I clicked on the plugin icon, a little window pops up. That is where we’ll add the video’s location.

By returning to the video page on YouTube, I can now select (”copy”) the visitation URL (Do NOT choose the embedded code) as shown in this next photo.

Next, with the url copied into my clipboard, I will return to my blog post where the popup window is showing from the plug-in I clicked and I’ll “paste” the url into that window:

When I click on “OK” the video code will be added to the content of my post. Note that of course the video won’t truly display live to the world until I “publish” the blog post to the blog. But, you can see where the code has been added to the blog post:

So that’s how I added this YouTube video to my blog post. And, with the proper plugin, the entire process takes mabye 10 seconds or so. With that in mind, I encourage you to start adding YouTube videos to your blog posts. Why? Because using the right video will capture the attention and interest of your readers. And, that’s probably 70% of what good blogging is all about.