Monday, January 29, 2007

Roger Federer and Grant Tinker (?)

After watching Roger Federer demolished Fernando Gonzales yesterday at the Australian Open to capture his 10th Grand Slam, I found it hard to believe federer's unwavering motivation, especially at this day and age when fame and fortune are increasingly the root of all downfalls.

Then, I came across a quote by a certain Grant Tinker, which I later found out to be the former Chairman and CEO of NBC (or more popularly known as the husband of Mary Tyler Moore - now, that actress I know):

First be best, then be first

Or as he puts it mildly, "First we will be best, and hen we will be first".

I guess Federer was not just aiming to be the best Swiss player in history when he started out, but also to be the best ever in the world.

With only 4 more slams to surpass Pete Sampras' record, I reckon that is why his drive is still as strong as when he first hit the tennis ball - perhaps, just the same drive for other greats such as Tiger Woods.

I suppose, this will hold true in any business endeavour..., that is, if we ever set a definite goal - instead of just the "holds-no-water" one of making tons of money.

And believe in yor goal by working harder (not smarter) than others.

Now, the last sentence is easier to say but harder to do...

P.S. You have to work hard first before you can work smart - get it? Maybe, I'll elaborate more another time.

Friday, January 26, 2007

If you thinking of selling E-goods...

I bet you already know that Digital Goods (or E-goods) are HOT!

What are E-goods?
  • e-books
  • e-photo collections
  • e-music
  • e-clip art
  • e-sounds
  • cartoons/art/illustrations
  • database products/software
  • anything you can digitalize
Everyday, more and more people are catching on to the convenience of selling electronic products online.

After all, there's no shipping, you have an unlimited supply of inventory, and customers experience instant gratification when their products are delivered in seconds.

If you can digitize it, you can sell it.

So they said.

But...,

How Easy Is This?

How "Do-able"?

Find out by clicking on the link below:

Selling E-goods Is E-business At Its Best

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Are you affected by Yahoo! latest search index update

If you are unaware, Yahoo! recently announced through its search blog that they are undergoing an index update, which started around last Friday and should be complete very soon.

This comes right after Google's recent updates of Backlink and PR (Page Rank).

Since both these search engines (SEs) power over 75% of online search, many website owners usually have cold sweat during the updating period. Most are very concerned about how their site will be impacted - will its search engine result placement (SERP) drop or maybe completely disappear out of sight? I should know since I was one of these website owners before I got SBI!

But I reckon the majority of Site Build It! owners do not even sweat during any update..., coz indirectly, SBI! ensures our websites will never be drastically penalized by the SEs - that is, if SBIers follow the philosophies and principles of SiteSell and use best practice SEO and link building tactics - all clearly explained in the SBI! Action Guide.

And SBIers don't really need to know much about SEO or Black/White Hats. In any case, SBI! with its guru-in-your-ear feature, will make sure for you that your site will never employ black hats techniques.

As far as my SBI! site goes, I've actually seen improvements in rankings on many of my core keywords at both Yahoo! and Google at this initial stage.

Ok, so SBI! really delivers what it preaches - It actually freed me from the dreary task of SEO and the other technical side of building a web business like keyword research, link building, web page design, etc.

I guess I'm also cold sweat-free nowadays with SBI!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Success stories for you to emulate in 2007

Do you know what's the common trait of all successful people?

They normally just add a bit of BAM.

BAM?

Just follow the link below to read more, and maybe you will be able to follow the footsteps of the successful people and make 2007 your break-through year:


All you need is a little bit of BAM to succeed in 2007

Monday, January 22, 2007

Using Article Marketing Campaign to Promote Your Product

Using Article Marketing Campaign to Promote Your Product
by Rich Adz

Recently, Max, a visitor to my site asked me for some advise (refer below):

I have a product to sell on my site.

I know I need to get visitors to my site as I realize that the probability of any sale is directly proportional to the number of hits/visitors to my site.

What should I do?

E-books? I don't want to do Viral Marketing because it is usually too long and too stressful for me to write.

Link exchanges? From my past experience, link exchanges are a series of hits and misses and I also don’t have that much time to spare.

E-mail marketing? Firstly, I have zero list and my budget does not include buying a list.

Pay Per Click? I don't even have a big enough budget for that as well.

SEO? It simply takes too long for my new sales page to be indexed by the Top SEs, and Google doesn’t seem to like my pages for some strange reason and my main page is still stuck at PR zero anyway.

What should I do?

My reply as follows:

Worry not, as there might be an easier and less time-consuming solution for you.

If you have not heard about it, or you may have "missed out" on one of the Internet marketing craze of 2006, well, I’m going to tell you, plain and simple, about article marketing.

Article marketing is the fastest way of exposing your site to more people and gaining the traffic that really matters, and I still think this holds true in 2007.

Article marketing involves the distribution of your articles to as many free articles sites as possible. Search engines love free articles sites, and having a page dedicated to your work would serve you well. Best of all, you’re allowed a resource box where you could prominently display your name as well as a link to your website. This would surely generate some traffic!

The trick is in writing an article that people would love to read, and subtly and inconspicuously promoting your product at the same time. Do consider the following ten tips in formulating your article marketing campaign.

1. You should write well - By this, it means that you should write well in accordance with proven methods in web publishing. Web readers are generally more impatient. Keep your paragraphs short, your tone conversational, and your style accessible. Avoid using jargons that common people wouldn’t understand. But still make sure that your article is grammatically sound, flows well, and factually correct.

2. You should write with focus - Pinpoint a subject you want to discuss. It should be relevant to your product, and only your product alone. The point here is to generate traffic for your site. Stick with that topic. And more importantly, list down all the benefits of your product to users and why they should get it.

3. Your article should be informative - It should not be a sales pitch, or at the very least, an obvious one. As you may have known, most readers frown on ads disguised as articles - I know I do, so before finalizing your article, go through it one more time, but read it as if you are one of your site's visitor. The purpose is to provide them with something informative, something that they would want to read.

4. Your article should be SE-friendly - Strategically populate your article with a keyword that is relevant to your business as well as the topic of your work. Search engines love article sites, and more often than not, each page is indexed, especially if the article is unique and beneficial. Making your article keyword-rich would invite those search engine spiders like crazy!

5. You should format your resource box - This is actually a short introduction of you and your company. One or two lines will be perfect. Don't forget to include your web address, preferably with your main keyword as the contextual link (also for SEO purposes).

6. You should commission someone if you can't write - If you can't write well, or do not have the time to write, you could hire a ghostwriter to do the job for you. Fees for a 300-600 word article range from US$5 to US$15, but money should not be a consideration for as long as you find a ghostwriter who is perfect for your needs. Additionally, the very essence of a ghostwriting service is confidentiality, so choose one whom you could trust.

7. Your article should be viral - Encourage your readers to distribute your article by expressly allowing them to republish it in their websites, or to e-mail it to their friends, provided that your resource box is kept intact.

8. You should have a free articles directories list - Compile a list of all the free articles directories that you can find. Know the editorial guidelines for each, and if your article would fit them, submit to as many sites as possible - my suggestion here is to submit to the top 10 leading free articles sites.

9. You should not stop writing - Most people stops at writing one article. Do not stop! Write or commission more articles and repeat the entire process. It’s still a numbers game on the Net today. The more articles you have distributed, the more chances you’ll have of being read by a lot of people. And the more the chances of someone clicking to your site.

10. You have to practice patience - Waiting could be difficult, but once your article is posted in numerous sites, more visitors are due to come. Give it time. The viral nature of article marketing would soon make its presence felt, that’s a guarantee!

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End Note: If you like the above, you are more than welcome to publish it at your site, provided that the above will be published in its entirety and include the following resource box at the end:

Rich Adz is a part time entrepreneur and content writer, who runs several online and offline businesses such as richADZ, a site that offers information on how to build successful businesses on a part time basis. Rich is also the founder of e-borneo.com, the leading Borneo travel site on the Net.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Happy (World Wide Wait) New Year

Firstly, a Happy New Year to you!

This is my first post for the new year (took me 5 days due to the world wide wait due to the Taiwan earthquake few weeks ago which had and is still affecting Internet connectivity and speed in my part of the world) and I hope that you have had a wonderful holiday season in your part of the world.

I'm very excited about what 2007 is going to be in store for us, netrepreneurs.

I also hope that 2006 has been a great year for you and your Internet business endeavours.

For me, 2006 has been a roller coaster year. I've learnt many new things, and experienced a lot - both online and offline business. Some were good, and some were not so good.

All in, I would say I've enjoyed this year.

I'd been pretty busy at work (my day-time job) with new challenges and leadership, whilst my side business (i.e., travel related web business - see my non-SBI! site ) had progressed into a fully fledged brick or mortal business in 2006.

Although we have had a "physical" presence for 3 years now, 2006 saw my travel company, Colourful Frontiers Travel Sdn Bhd, getting full approval from my country's goverment to operate in tours. Hence, we are now a bonafide tour operator.

For added business credibility, my company had also been accepted as a member of MATTA (Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents), the national umbrella representative body for the entire travel industry in the country - equivalent to the NTA or TIA in the US, AFTA in Australia, and ABTA in the UK.

Hence, I have been and expecte to be pretty busy on the brick and mortal side of my business during at least the first half of 2007.

I can't say how much time I would have for my SBI! site this year, but I would like to be an optimist and say that I'll continue building it as usual.

Why not? my SBI! site had been giving me enough income from Google Adsense to pay for slightly more than a year of my Site Build It! yearly fee at the moment, but that's peanut compared to a tourist it can bring to my travel business.

With all that said, I reckon my biggest challenge will be to keep up with both the online (such as posting more regularly at this blog) as well as the offline nature of my "side" business (I can't call it part-time anymore since I have staff working full time 9 to 5, 6 days a week).

I've big plans for expanding (or even dare I say, exploding) my business in 2007, and I hope you do as well.

So, let us all Think Big, Plan Big, and Work Big..., opps, I meant Work Smart (spare some time - lots of it if possible - for some rest and quality time with your loved ones or friends)!