Crypto Crazy?

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Many of you know that I am friends with the guy who runs MadProgress.com and I have to tell you that the way he thinks about life in general boggles my mind.

He recently wrote an article about Cryptocurrency that stretched my brain cells.

Is Cryptocurrency The Future Of Money?

cryptocurrency info image

Cryptocurrency ma be the wave of the future. It pays to do your homework.

If you haven't been following along: Here's a link to what crypto is all about.  It's a digital "medium" of "exchange".  The value of which is ascribed by the people involved in the exchange.

Are Dollars Important Anymore?

It seems (at least in a thought experiment) that "dollars" may not be that important anymore (in the near future).

If people start to "value" cryptocurrencies in the way that they have been ascribing value to dollars then "Dollars" (read "federal reserve notes") may go the way of the Dodo Bird and other "extinct species".

This Is A Problem For Those Who Control The World As We Know It

If I was a Central Banker (and I am not) I would be worried.  It seems that many people are finding a different "medium of exchange" outside of Central Bank (Government/Dollar) control.

No way to track, no way to "control".  This is a problem for me if I am a Central Banker.

Doing Research

I've been doing some research....

Remember how a few years ago that all of the "online gambling" sites went away in the USA?

Guess what... they are back - only this time you can gamble "anonymously" with cryptocurrency.  Right here in the Good 'Ol USA.

All you have to do is exchange your hard earned dollars for some "crypto" like Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Dogecoin, (among others) and you are back in the game.  Check out this site to see what I mean.

What This All Means

If you are not in the "crypto" realm you should be.  You ought to be learning everything you can about it.  It is the next phase in the evolution of "money".

More to come....

All the best,

Jack

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Affiliate Business Tips

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Presell like a pro

The most important thing you can do to increase your affiliate commissions is to presell properly.

Mike Talo Oil PaintingBefore we begin, we need to first define what preselling is. Preselling is both an art and a science.

The goal is to get your reader prepped to make a purchase. Then sending them to the product sales page to make the purchase. If you do it well, it's completely invisible.

The gist is that you give your reader some useful information. And give them a link to the product you're preselling.

In just a minute, I'll explain exactly how to presell. Before we get into that, you should understand what's in it for you. Here are a few benefits of preselling:

  • Preselling creates trust - And gaining the trust of your readers helps them want to click your links. And the more traffic you can send to the sale page, the more commissions you'll earn.
  • It disarms your reader - When you're not hyping or pitching a product, your reader lets their guard down. Unguarded reading means they're not filtering what you say. And your intention is conveyed more easily.
  • It puts them in a buying mood - Now they're open to hearing what you're telling them. So they become more receptive to other messages. Like the info on product sales page you've linked to. Sending them to the sales page in this state makes them more receptive to the actual pitch.
  • You make more money - You've prepped them and referred them in the right state of mind. With the guard down and trusting your recommendation. This dramatically boosts your sales rate!
  • Your customers are happier - People like to make their own buying decisions. Instead of being manipulated into buying. So they are happier with their purchase.
  • Your profits go up - Satisfied customers are less like to refund. And that translates to more commission staying in your affiliate business.

Obviously, it's important to presell. You increase your profits. Your customers are happier. Everybody wins!

Now, here's how preselling works:

OK, now you understand why it's so important. And hopefully you're convinced you need to start doing it. You're ready to learn how to do it properly. As I mentioned earlier, it's both an art and a science.

Mastering the art

First, you have to gain the trust of your reader, so they let their guard down. Honestly, the only way to do this is to provide real value in your content - your product.

Now, providing enough info to be useful, but still making them want more - that's the art of it.

That is, they have to be wanting more when you refer them to the product sales page for the product you’re trying to sell. And because you've gained trust, they’re more receptive to the sales message and more likely to buy.

Scientific preselling

There are also several key elements that need to be included.

The first is how you present the information. You have to have your end in mind. Your goal is to sell the product you're promoting. How can providing information accomplish this goal?

The first method is to provide enough info to get them started, but not enough to finish. The second way is to provide all the information and let your reader discover how hard it is to actually implement it. Either way, the product sales page solves the problem.

Next, you have to use "convert linking" methods. Instead, you use a direct link to the product website. This increases your clicks.

But how will you earn affiliate commissions if you don't use your affiliate link? There's a trick to make this work... You "pre-cookie" your reader before sending them to the sales page.

The next trick is to hyperlink specific words and phrases inside the content of the article you’re providing. Hyperlinked words are clicked more than anything else. And if the words you hyperlink relate, your reader will naturally click them for more information.

What you have now is a super powerful system for affiliate marketing success.

Unfortunately...

This process is not easy – at all! Let's look at the skills required to pull it off: Good content. First of all, you actually have to write great articles and give value to your readers. This means you have to be able to write well, and have enough knowledge to be useful, and be honest.  Take a look at how James Altucher writes.  He's completely open and honest.

Preselling skills. Yes, you must providing useful content. And you have to make the content accessible in order to provide value. And somehow also make them want to learn more. The other approach is to reveal a self-evident problem through the information.

Product selection. Next, you’ve got to pick the right product to presell. Even if you can pull off writing and great article. All your efforts are wasted if you send your reader to the wrong sales letter.

Technical skills. And finally, you need the technical know-how to embed your image tag and make sure you get credit for the sale. This is actually pretty simple – just embed a 1 pixel X 1 pixel image and set your affiliate link as the “source” of the image. (Just don't mess it up. Otherwise, you won't get credit for your sales.)

Summary:

Now you’re armed with the information needed to effectively presell. Preselling properly will boost your affiliate profits.  It’s absolutely critical to do this every time – and to do it correctly. Please don’t be lazy. Make the extra effort required to propel your affiliate business to the next level.

All the best,

Jack Folsgood

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Doing What You Want To Do

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The things that matter...

Few people get to spend the majority of their lives doing what they want to do.  And when I say "the majority of their lives" I mean at least 95% of the time.  The other 5% is reserved for things like funerals, watching a sick friend die, etc.

I'm talking about doing what you want to do when you want to do it.  Period.

Few get the chance.

Many lives are caught up in just surviving.

I am fortunate to be one of "the fortunate few."

Spending my days in leisure - doing what I want to do when I want to do it.

But it didn't come without a lot of hard work.

But what does "hard work" mean?

It means "concentration".

Concentration on the job at hand.

So what's the "job"?

I'm glad you asked.

The job is whatever makes you happy.

Sometimes I like to take a nap at 11:00 a.m.  That makes me happy.

For much of my life I could not "take a nap at 11:00 a.m." because I was "working".

Retired?

No

I spend my days plying my trade.  Discovering new ways to make money on the internet.

My office is 36 square feet.  In my basement.

An international business. I-N-T-E-R-N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L.  Worldwide.

All  over the world.

In the past it wasn't so easy.

Thank God for the world wide web!

Of course I spent the first six months of my  internet career not making ANY money.

You gotta stick it out.  Find what works for you.

I recently found a good one - I'm starting another business.

I'll tell you about it soon.

Jack

 

 

Filed Under: Make Money

Building or Buying Links – What Works Best?

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Once a person gets beyond the initial learning stage in internet marketing - they know how to build a website, they've done their keyword research, they have figured out some ways to "drive traffic" - and not only that they have learned how to turn a profit with that traffic - this (business) person starts to look for more and better ways to "drive more traffic" to their website(s).

Building Links Still Works

Now that the dust seems to have pretty much settled from the last horrific Google update it turns out that according to many "experts" (who have something to sell you) that building or buying links still works - you just can't go about it in a spammy way.

Tools of the new Spam

There are a few old (now refurbished) spam engines that one can use such as SENuke xcr (dangerous in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing - such as Becker), and the ever updating Synnd who seems real proud of their new video submission software, but seems unable to figure out how to game G+ and Facebook.

Maybe they just need better programmers to stay ahead of Facebook and Googles spam police.  (I'm sure there's a good article out there about that - probably on Wired Magazine or something)  Oh - here's one on Outspoken Media.

Are you Branding or Gaming Google?

I'm a big proponent of Branding.  I try and build all my sites without the thought of trying to please Google and get all of that free search traffic.  If I build something that is useful to people - answers their question(s) -  and generally leaves them satisfied - then I figure I don't have to do any work at all to get Googs attention.  If they favor me (my site) then great - but otherwise I still get traffic - and convert.

That's the idea anyway - but I too still occasionally find myself  "doing things the old way" - thus the title of this article.

Build A Brand While You're At It

There is a lot of noise out there about Branding, but one of the most succinct ones that is probably worth a read (by you - I already read (most) of it) is Brand Against The Machine by John Morgan.

Lots of good ideas in there.  Check it out.

But I Digress

So if you are trying to game Google should you build links (by article writing, outsourcing articles to be written, guest posting, and the like) or should you just go ahead and buy some links on high PR sites to help with your ranking?

The Answer

The answer to that question is.... I don't really know.  I really don't.  It depends what kind of person you are, and whether or not you've fallen into the "get rich quick - push button internet marketing" mindset or not.

If you are looking for a quick(er) payoff then go ahead and spend some money and buy some links - or use one of the spam engines like SENuke (although if you learn how to use it properly and not just build links directly to your site it can be effective - just use good content).

Just don't expect to build a long term stable business off of those links if you don't do it properly.  Plan to always be chasing the rainbow instead of "being the rainbow".

I should also note (again) that it can be a short term effective strategy and if used properly can really propel a site/business forward quickly - but it is important to have a quality Brand/Product at the end of your (spam helped) rainbow.

Chasing Rainbows

Not that there is anything wrong with chasing rainbows.  It's lot of fun.  Been doing it my whole life in one fashion or another.

What About Long Term Stable Income?

Not sure there is such a thing as a long term stable income anymore, but let's pretend for a moment that it exists.  How does one acquire it through "Internet Marketing"?

Build A Company That Will Last

Maybe it's time for you to stop going for the "one hit wonder" and start building a real business.  A business that will last.   A brand with a following.  How would one go about doing that?

Time and Money

It takes a little bit of time and money to build a brand and have it provide you with a "long term stable income".  Think of building a franchise.  Build something that you can duplicate.  Build yourself something with promotion worthy content like Kurt Simula talks about in this post at Mad Progress Marketing.

-- More resources to follow ---

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Carnage In The SERPS!

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For those who don't know, Google recently unleashed a new algorithm update to reduce the effectiveness of EMD's.  (exact match domains)

What's An EMD?

This has been one of the long standing (and effective) ways to game Google into thinking that a site/domain going by the name of acnetreatments.com (for instance) is an important site and should rank on the first page of Google when someone types that exact search (acne treatments) into the search box.

Google Doesn't Like Being Gamed

It turns out that the big G. doesn't like being gamed and giving all of those free clicks away to those who figured out how to rank a site easier.  (although there are those like Chris Rempel who continue to argue that it still is a valid business model - or at least one that is worth the time and investment to pursue due to the HUGE MONEY to be made - you can read some of his thoughts about it in the comment section below this article of mine)

My Argument

I've argued otherwise for some time now.  That type of business model is like building a house on sand which often results in a shaky and unreliable foundation.

Many - perhaps most - of these types of sites were spammy, junky adsense sites with very little to offer anyway.

Did Google Do The Right Thing?

A lot of internet webmasters think that this is a terrible thing.  Of course they do.  They built up a huge monthly income with the EMD business model and now it is almost all gone - perhaps to never return again.  You can check out some of the carnage (and comments about it) at Ajay Singh's Blog.

Wiped Out

I feel bad for those who worked so hard to build up a nice monthly income based on this business model  - and with Google's good graces.

They complain that it is unfair - maybe they should sue Google some of them say.  Really?  C'mon!  If anything they owe Google for all of that free advertising they received over the years.

Is It All About The Bottom Line Dollars?

Isn't that really what this is about?  Money?  Of course it is.  And now Google wants more.  Good for them.

Time will tell how this all shakes out, but for now I am not waiting around for Google to pleasure me with gobs of easy money - I continue to work on building various different Brands.  Brands that don't rely on Google - or anyone else in particular.  Just my good sense and good old word of mouth.

Take Care Out There,

Jack

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Is There An (Easier) Way To Make Affiliate Commissions Online?

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So Much To Do - So Little Time

Whether you are brand new to trying to make affiliate commissions online or an experienced full time internet marketer it is at times very difficult to get past all of the "noise".

Most of us are signed up to many different "lists" and our email inboxes are inundated on a daily basis with all of the latest and greatest things that we "Absolutely Must Have" to make money online.

Where To Start - What To Do?

Those of us who have been lucky enough to have found a way to make consistent full time money online do not give our secrets up easily.

What I have found it comes down to is finding something that works and doing it over and over again.  What's the cliche'?  Oh yeah... Wash - Rinse - Repeat.

There Are Lots Of Ways

Many of the e-books and online making money courses do in fact work - to a certain extent.

I think the reason that those who buy these courses fail to make any money with these techniques- myself included at times - is that we fail to stick with the basics.

Many times there is just so much information in the course - see my Easy FB Commissions Review for an example - that it's just too much to digest and actually put into practice even if it does work.

Is There An Easy Way?

Often you'll hear an expert tell you that you need to treat your online business like a business - because that is what it is.  The problem is that most people have no idea what it takes to run a business - and even fewer have any clue on how to actually turn a profit with it.

Most people are used to having a job.  In many ways it is far easier.  In most cases all you have to do is show up on time - do what you are told to do - and you will be successful at it.  The problem for many is that there is a limit to the amount of success you can have at a job, both financially as well as personally.

Are You Trapped?

I know that in the past when I had a "real job" I often felt trapped, but there was no easy way out, save for moving on to another job where the "grass was greener".  Being in Sales this was easy for me, but for those who specialize in a certain industry it isn't always so easy to jump the fence and move on.

The Appeal Of An Online Business

There are so many people telling you that it is easy to make money online.

The truth is, as you probably already know... it's not that easy.

You may be one of the few that actually put into practice a certain technique that you learned after reading a good e-book and actually sold something.  It felt good to make some money didn't it?

But how easy was it to keep making a consistent income?  Not so easy I bet.  And even if you figured out what it was that you did that actually caused that to happen were you able to turn a profit?  Consistently?  Not likely.

It Takes Time

Sure, there are a fortunate few in every industry that have the good fortune/karma to hit it big on the first try and the success just keeps on coming.  Good for them.

For the rest of us it may seem like we are doomed to failure and forever will be stuck in our dead end job - if we are lucky enough to have a job that pays enough to pay the bills.

How I Hit It Big

It took me 9 months of near daily consistent effort - four hours or more, every day - of building websites, keyword research, practicing good SEO (search engine optimization) and much of the other stuff you have heard about and maybe even tried to apply in your own money making efforts.

Consistency Is Key

I was 6 months into it when I made my first individual sales commission of over $100.00.  Previous to that I was making a mere $100 - 200 a month from Adsense ads and a Clickbank product here and there.  Just enough to keep me optimistic - but truthfully I was really starting to wonder if I would ever break through.

My Breakthrough

Guess what I sold?  A certain kind of Health Product.  I had written an article  about the benefits of a certain kind of supplement for men.  Actually it was an article that I had written and posted on the US FREE ADS website (not one of my own sites) that detailed my thoughts on the scam type marketing tactics of a product I had heard about after getting some unsolicited mail in my regular mailbox.

In My Own Words

In my own words I had written an article that pointed out the obvious problems of this certain product that I was being solicited to buy - and then suggested to those reading that if they were looking for something reliable to help them with their problem "maybe they should check out a more reliable and proven brand name product".  (one that I of course had an affiliate relationship with - and had tried myself)

I didn't at that point have the marketing skills to do anything more than that.  I just trusted the actual product seller (of whom I was an affiliate) to do the actual selling for me.  AND IT WORKED!  I knew I was on to something.

Product Name Hi-Jacking

I have since learned that the technique I used is known in the online marketing world as "Product Name Hi-Jacking".

Now, there are different ways to go about performing this technique.  Some simple and some not so simple. All of them legal (at least the ones I use).

Easier Affiliate Commissions

I wrote a short (11 page) e-book that you can get for free by filling out the form as detailed on THIS PAGE that details my simple procedure.  I also provide some other stuff that you can use in your online marketing efforts.

Good Luck Out There,

Jack

 

Filed Under: Internet Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Easy Facebook Commissions – A Good Review? Or a Scam?

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Easy FB Commissions Review

So I went ahead and purchased Justin Michie's  [Mee'-Kees] "Easy Facebook Commissions" course.  Figured a review was in order.

After watching the promotional video I agreed to pay $42.70 for it because Justin said that was what his cost was  - and he wanted to help me out.  I believed him.

I WANTED TO MAKE THE KIND OF MONEY HE SAID WAS POSSIBLE WITH JUST 26 CLICKS!

20 minutes later - and THREE more "Just One Time Offers" complete with videos - I sold my soul to the devil and told him NO - "I can do it myself" - I don't need to pay an extra $200 - $300 (or whatever it was) to "Have Them Do It For Me".

I went ahead and spent the $42.70 cents to see what he had to offer - all the time wondering if all of this was a complete waste of time - and money - or some sort of scam. (but no worries - because I could always get my money back - LOL).

This far in when it came (finally) time to make a user name and password in order to access this incredible new way of making GOBS of money in no time at all - and with hardly any effort - (just 26 clicks) I chose to make my password an ironic "michie-scam" because that was what I was feeling at the time.

So what's it all about?

Holy Shit!

What I find inside - before getting to the "software" necessary to spam Facebook using fake user accounts and Proxy Servers is a 146 page - 15 chapter - user's guide.  "Maybe there is something to this after all" - I think to myself.

The gist of Easy Facebook Commissions by Justin Michie is this...  (per my notes)

  • Use Clickbank to find your market
  • Find a Clickbank product (or niche product(s) that has a gravity of 100 or more.
  • Search Facebook for that niche - filet - lots of likes = good.
  • Get a virtual phone number with Voicemail.
  • Excellent instructions on how to make a Facebook "Page" for my new business.
  • Something about  making a "squeeze page" to capture leads.
  • Go and buy some PLR (private label rights) product in the niche to serve these new leads some rehashed internet sewage/spam.
  • Instruction on how to make an "Exit Splash" page.
  • Plugins and other stuff for my new site.
  • How to integrate Aweber - (autoresponder for email follow ups)
  • Something about "banner garden" and an additional "ad code widget".
  • Another wordpress plugin called "sexy bookmarks".
  • Something about how to integrate "clickbank ads" into my site.
  • CPA Networks
  • Proxy and Virtual Servers
  • And a whole bunch of other stuff I didn't take notes on.

After all of this I was pretty tired and went to bed.

The next day I decide to take a deeper look into what this is all about - and to take some time to think about what I had just learned.

This is my review of Easy Facebook commissions - or EasyFBcommissions.com as it's called.

Gaming Facebook!

What easy facebook commissions is all about is gaming Facebook.  Pure and simple.  Except it's not that simple.

See... the thing is - once you get through all of the instructions - and there are a lot of them - you have to put everything into place.  Way easier said than done.

Now I'm not saying that these guys have everything you need to do exactly what they say their course and software will do.  I'm not saying that at all.

It's just that none of it is for the faint of heart - meaning that it sure is going to take more than 26 clicks to send you one your way to internet riches.

The give you the instructions on how to set up your facebook accounts.  They even offer to sell you "phone verified" facebook accounts for only $6.00 each.

The Software

Then you have to set up the software.  Not such a bad thing if you are in to that sort of thing.

As a matter of fact - you don't need the software - if you are only going to have one or two accounts and handle them yourself.  Otherwise - and what they recommend - is that you have as many as you can afford.

What they don't tell you is that even after you figure this whole thing out - and put everything into place - is that your likely hood of success is slim to none.

How do I know?  I've been down this road before.  It takes a lot of guts and determination - and maybe a little bit of luck - to hit it big.  Maybe this is why the guys at Easy Facebook Commissions recommend making as many accounts as you can and spam the shit out of the facebook groups and pages you've joined and/or created.

But who in those groups are going to put up with your shit?  In all fairness to Michie and company they do tell you to only put out 1 in 3 or 4 of your postings as something you are promoting.  But someone has to produce the message - even if it's spun - and automated somewhat with the software.

You also have to have something to sell. Or promote as an affiliate.  And on and on with a whole bunch of other things you need to know and do before you can even hope to have enough traffic (if you are lucky) to get to the point where you can start and try to tweak your campaigns for better returns.

They didn't tell you that up front in the sales message did they?

Look... I'm not saying this thing won't work for you.  The course has a whole lot more substance to it than most anything else I have purchased lately - maybe ever - save for Brad Callen's Skybuilder course that teaches you how to build apps and get them on the Google Play store and Apple's I-store or whatever the hell it is.

The $42.00 I spent was worth it for Easy FB Commissions.  I learned a lot.  I just have not really gotten into Facebook marketing that much, and now that I now what I now from this course, Facebook is something that I will probably dabble in - as part of the larger plan - for some of my niche sites.

All of this being said.  And much like the ideas I expressed in my Does SEO Still Work? post - If you are going to spend your time gaming Google - or Facebook - or even Pinterest for that matter - eventually you are going to get booted, blackballed, or even eliminated completely from that network if they feel you are taking advantage of them.

So think about that before you go and invest your time, energy, and money into a system that very nearly requires you to be shady in some way or another.

It might not be illegal (thank God!), and no one is going to die, but if you do in fact end up building something of substance, just be prepared for the inevitable day where the ten or twenty thousand a month you are making is gone in an instant.

Think about that.  And then maybe think about building a brand with a loyal following - something that is not guaranteed to last of course - but it will last longer than the house of cards you are building with your bot nets, proxy servers, and fake accounts.

Good Luck out there,

Jack

Filed Under: Internet Marketing Tagged With: , ,
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