Tim's Wee Part of the World » Marketing http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog Come along and join in. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:20:01 +0000 en hourly 1 Creating your Own Website isn’t difficult. http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/creating-your-own-website-isnt-difficult http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/creating-your-own-website-isnt-difficult#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:18:16 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=899

There is a new course that has been released that is called “Make WordPress Easy”.

This be being touted as the best WordPress “How To” ever released and this is not  just coming from it’s Creator “Ori Bengal”.

I’ll add in Ori’s own website where he raves on about lots of stuff…

9 Year Old Haylee has taken this course and she built herself one very impressive website where she now blogs on. You can take a look at her site at http://www.littlehandbigheart.com. Way to go Haylee!

Business Owners are using it to create or fix up someone elses efforts that they’ve already paid big dollars for.

Mums are using it to create websites for their friends. You’ll see in the video where one mum who had no experience with building a website, created one over the weekend. That’s one weekend which included taking the course and actually doing it!

Internet Marketers are using it to build their own websites.

If you have any reason to get yourself an Online Presence with a website, then you should seriously consider this.

Is it going to put Web Designers out of business?

Well the answer is NO! Why? Because there are folk who would rather just pay to get their sites done. They don’t have the time or the inclination to put in the time and effort to learn and do this. And that’s fine!

What it is going to do is create more Web Designers. By using this course to teach yourself how to create rather stunning websites will make it easy for you to get Web Design Work. Because you’ll know how to do it!

Everyday you meet someone that says…”We really need a website”… or… “Our Website sucks so bad and we’ve already spent so much on it,  what can we do?”

I’m even considering showing this to some of my website clients so they can do this for themselves. Yes I’ll be loosing money but I’m a busy lad and if I can help someone out by doing this who wants to get themself a website and Learn how to set it up and more importantly – update it – change it around to their liking… then I’m all for it.

It’s better than telling them to go somewhere else and potentially suffer the old… It costs lots and it takes forever and it’s not what we wanted…

I might even be able to throw some work at those that have taken the course for other sites if I get swamped! I’ll know they have the knowledge to do the job! The big plus for me is that I don’t have to train them!

Is it for everyone?

Well if you do need to create a website, you have two choices.

You can outsource it and that can lead to a can of worms if you don’t already know someone thats

  • capable,
  • will do the job you want and
  • not take forever doing it.

OR… you can spend ( at the time of writing ) two installments of $47 USD for a total of  $94USD and do it yourself and have your own website the way you want it to look!

Of Course Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting is extra… About $10 USD per year for a Domain Name and Hosting at around $8 a Month. Hostgator have a deal for $4.95 per month if it’s paid upfront for 12 months

Plus you’ll be able to make your own changes, how you want and when you want.

Plus you have the opportunity to create even more websites for yourself, friends or even paying clients.

The really nice thing is I’ll be picking up a few tips and tricks that I don’t know about. You never stop learning when it comes to website design and Ori has been doing this a lot longer than I have.  So getting access to his experience is going to put a feather in my cap!

Be Prepared for the Video!

The sales page for this product is one interesting Video… It s rather long, but you’ll get to see and hear the many folk from all walks of life who have used this and have had success!

It’s a very good example on how to make an interesting and factual Video presentation.

You can see it at Make WordPress Easy.

Ori on Youtube doing Standup

One of Ori’s Talents is his comedy. Here he is doing a Standup Gig somewhere…..
Is he funny? Well you be the judge

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/creating-your-own-website-isnt-difficult/feed 0 Promoting Products with Landing Pages on your blog http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/promoting-products-with-landing-pages-on-your-blog http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/promoting-products-with-landing-pages-on-your-blog#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:43:04 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=831

I’ve just found a new WordPress Plugin called KeywordsToWebsites created by Mark Wielgus.

Now Mark is a programmer that has brought his experience into creating this Plugin and he’s done a very nice job.

Plugins like this abound on the Internet. Most times they are “thought” up by someone who then gets someone else to create them. Which is fine… but ultimately the functionality can be a little lacking. Also the quality of the Plugin can be , at times, questionable.

When you combine Programming Skills along with Marketing Skills, the result is.. well something like this plugin.

The Sales Page.

Marks Sales Page is quite good but I do have one complaint… The demonstration of the Plugin is a Video, but it’s a recording of a Screen using a Video Camera!!!!

It’s funny to read Marks statement that it’s very 2008 to use individual plugins to do what his plugin does. But to use a Video Camera???? It’s hard to see, the camera operator isn’t quite sure what he/she is meant to be focusing on. So it could lead to a few headaches and funny tummys by  watching it…

There is a second Video on how he has incorporated finding Hot Keywords on Ebay ( very nice ) and that is done with something like Camtasia! So I’m a little confused as to why he’s gone 2008 on us with the main demo video and 2011 on the Ebay Keywords Video.

The Landing Page, where did that come from?

I have this new habit where I open up my OpenOffice Writer and create a Mockup Landing Page. Which is what I’ve done for this… I do this for two reasons…

  1. To quickly “nut” out the Idea.
  2. To be able to save it in my file of “things” so I can get it on paper and get back to what I was doing.

 

And as I’m rather strapped for time.. Well I’m working on my own major Project at the moment so time is kind of “on the lean side” at the moment… I thought “Why not just toss it up on my Blog and throw it out there on a few Traffic Exchanges.”

Which is what I have done… Now I’ve got some other ideas on doing this… For one thing, having a landing page appear on the blog itself may or may not be a good thing. So I’m looking at creating a plugin that will let you – create a landing Page – and not have it show up on the blog as such, but still have it accessible to display on Traffic Exchanges and the like…

One of the Main Benefits that I see in using this technique, if you can call it that, is it…

  1. Gives you an easy way to Create a Landing Page.
  2. Drives Traffic to your Blog.

The idea being, it’s convenient and your Visitor , who might make a purchase, might also go off wondering around the rest of your website.

So this is the quick, get it done, and see what happens version.

It’s just a matter of creating a new post… Or I should have probably made it a page and tagged it as not to show on the menus etc…

I’ll try that later on. In the meantime, I’ll get back to planning and coding my new project and see what happens.

Oh and by the way… This plugin is a really nice way to get some content and affiliate products on your websites.

I’ve got a few keyword rich domains gathering dust, so something like this is just the ticket to get something on them with little effort.

If you can automate these tasks, then Do It! It’s better to have something than nothing at all.

Here is the Landing Page. While it’s rather simple and boring looking, it’s “there”  and not just a thought in my head.

If I don’t see you before hand… Have a Grand New Year and 2012 is going to be very exciting.

Stay tuned!

Cheers

Tim

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/promoting-products-with-landing-pages-on-your-blog/feed 0 12SecondCommute.com Review http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/12secondcommute-com-review http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/12secondcommute-com-review#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:47:37 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=759

This is one of those programs I’ve seen over time but never paid much attention too it! Isn’t that always the case?

Who Says Traffic Exchanges Don’t Work?

Anyway I was surfing some of my favourite Traffic Exchanges to get some points up for another campaign I’ve started doing some promotion on for  a nice Time Management Product, Time Management is one of those things I still need to master with everything I need to do! And as is the way with Traffic Echanges, you get to see what others are promoting and this program popped up and grabbed my attention.

So I joined up as a Free Member to see what it’s all about!

And I had no real idea what 12SecondCommute was about. I was just curious! But I liked what I saw, and still do by the way.

Budget Entry Tools for any Marketer

Now I say Budget Entry as with most folk starting out, cash can be a bit hard to come by to risk on “some program”. So to see the offer to become a member of this for only $14 USD Per Month ( at the time of writing ) if you upgrade in the first 5 days of signing up, is a pretty good deal.

Especially when you see what it provides you with.

Now the average range of tools folk need to get started out is at a minimum of

  1. An Auto Responder System
  2. A Lead Capture Page system and
  3. Hosting , so you have somewhere to host it.

Ok so what 12SC gives you is an Auto Responder System which is laid out to be one of the most simple set ups I’ve seen. Some Auto Responder systems can leave you staring blankly at the page wondering what the goodness you have to do!

And if you just give me a few minutes I’ll fire up The GIMP and grab a screen shot for you…(Click , whiz, bang, Whirl………)

Display the simple AutoResponder Screen for 12SecondCommute

Display the simple AutoResponder Screen for 12SecondCommute

Ok, one Screen shot done. Now  I’m not sure you can glean too much from that, but it’s so nice to have everything laid out for you so you can quickly find what you are looking for.

You’ll also notice a Menu on the Left Hand Side of the above image, that shows a few nice features.

I’m going to Skip to the Capture Page Creator as it’s the second item on our list and  I’ve just had a play with and its nice and simple to use. It has a number of pre made templates, which are quite good, for you to choose from. There is also a range of Stock Photos on various subjects you can use as you wish, which is a nice touch.

Now with an Auto Responder and Lead Capture Page system you might need some hosting to put it all on. Well actual hosting isn’t included in the membership BUT the Lead Capture Pages are hosted for you. Which relieves you of the need to get web hosting, buy domain names and go through setting everything up. You can do that kind of thing later on… maybe! You might never have to!

Hosting is Offered as an extra at 3 different levels, which are all reasonably priced but nothing to “write home” about in comparison with other hosting services. Due to the hosting  being associated, with 12SC  if you are a bit new to all this hosting caper, they’ll probably sort you out. Not forgetting I can help out there as well!

Many Hosting Companies are able to drown you with ( and I mean that in a nice way – meaning they give you lots of info ) all the “how to’s” etc but let’s not get over our heads if you are just starting out.

So the fact you can set up your First Auto Responder and Lead Capture Page – have it hosted and up and running on the Traffic Exchanges in under a Day ( if you are completely new to all this ) or a few hours if you are an old hand, is impressive.

There are others out there that offer this level of service but I’d say this is a way above those I’ve been apart of in the past.

But there’s More.

The next piece of the puzzle is tracking your Page Views. It’s very important to see what your Lead Capture Pages are doing on what Exchanges. So there is an Ad Tracker as part of the system for your use. It’s an often “missed” item that is actually vital for you especially when you are starting out.

Playing Hit and Miss in the Dark might be fun for some, but when you are serious about building a business, you do need to be able to monitor your efforts and not fly blind.

There are a few more things but I do need to mention the Video Training. It’s no good having “stuff” that you don’t know how to use. And being able to learn how to ues these tools quickly and implement them is very very important!

There are also Conferences you can attend and learn more LIVE. This is always nice to have. So you won’t be left out in the cold.

Is there anything bad about this?

I might have liked to have some hosting included, but for the $14 USD per month (if you upgrade within 5 days – else it’s $29 per month – which is a nice incentive to jump in early and at that price it’s a bargain ) I don’t want a lot do I?

I’m paying $44 USD per Month for my Hosting,Auto Responder,Video Conferencing etc at GVO with all it’s whizzy things it has (it’s something to play with later on)  and $21.95 Per Month with another Hosting/Auto Responder Service I’m trying out.

So 12SC isn’t such a bad deal. Oh and not to forget an Auto Responder system can cost you at least $14 per month on it’s own! So with the Autoresponder – Lead Capture Page Creator including hosting and the Tracking System and all the other bits, for $14 USD per month it’s not too hard to see it’s very good value, along with the training that’s included.

It’s definitely a nice place to start from and even for someone like myself who has been around a little while, it’s got my vote and I’ll be giving it a further try out. Hey if it saves me time  – it’s got to be a good thing!

What to do next?

So what you can do is join it for Free and you can Stay as a Free member which lets you use all of the services I’ve mentioned in a limited capacity, but more than enough to get you started. So if you decide it is for you to continue with and upgrade in the first 5 days you get it all for $14 USD per month, else after that time it’s $29 USD per month.

Now as you can quit at any time, upgrading early makes it the obvious choice! It’s a nice little incentive they’ve included to help you decide to upgrade early, but it makes sense to if it’s something you are going to be using.

So you can Join 12SC for Free, try it and see if it’s for you.

Affiliate Program

Yes, this does have an affiliate program and yes I’ll earn a commission if you do join under me, which I would love you to do and help out where I can. So having got that out of the way, you too can also promote this program and earn a commission.

Now you might expect that at this extremely low monthly price that the Commission itself isn’t anything special at 35% for 1st level. And it isn’t, but it’s something.

The thing is, this program has a lot to offer folks like yourself, and it’s not an over priced program so you’d expect it would be attractive to folk and so it becomes a numbers game BUT it’s more important that you use the tools in the program to benefit your own business building efforts – that’s where the money is. Remember that it’s your Business <Insert Your Name Here> (Sorry that I don’t know your name).

The Affiliate commission associated with promoting this program is just some nice loose change :) Afterall,  everything helps.

I hope that gives you a little insight into how something like 12SC might benefit you and your business building efforts. There are a number of “great” services that cater for various peoples needs”out there” and this is one of them.

Cheers

Tim

 

[UPDATE - 30 Dec 2011 ]  It would seem that the folk at 12SecondCommute don’t take too kindly to you  if you do not upgrade… I’ve just gone back to take another look at their offerings and was greeted with the message “Your Subscription has been expired”.

Now I’ve never come across this before and it’s certainly not a practice I would recommend or ever use… So what if you are a Free Member… What better way to have me upgrade if I’m still on the fence about handing over any money. The nice thing is that the folk at 12SecondCommute have made the decision for me…

Oh well, you live and learn.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/12secondcommute-com-review/feed 2 I Used to Hate Marketing http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/i-used-to-hate-marketing http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/i-used-to-hate-marketing#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:51:59 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=629

I really did, the simple thought of it made me cringe.

I’ve been formerly trained as an electronics engineer and went down that path because of my love to design and build things. Which includes software and hardware and I still enjoy it but now I am contracting, if I take a day off, I don’t get paid.

Plus I’m a bit of a night Owl, late to bed and late to rise. Probably because it’s more quiet here once everyone goes to bed and I can concentrate better. It also gives me more contact time with my partners in crime in the US. I’m in Australia, in case you didn’t know.

Now it’s really since the advent of the Internet that my stance on marketing has changed. What I like about the Internet is it’s social aspects. I love yakking and I can vent my “creative” side via blogs etc. Actually I was talking to a mate of mine who said he loves to write.  So of course, that sparked me up and off I went dazzling him with how he could set up a blog and get writing… But I do have a tendancy to go overboard when I start talking about my favorite subject, that being the Internet.

In fact I love to write about a range of things and while I keep this blog as my central playground, I do have other blogs about other topics where when the mood takes me and the content suits, I can rush over and get what’s in my head onto a blog and annoy people silly enough to read it.

So where does marketing come into this? Well I have the veiwpoint, that if you love writing, the internet gives you the platform to become a writer and as a side effect, depending on the subject material, you can monetize your website and earn a few dollars. While that’s not actual marketing, it is in it’s most basic form. Creating content that people can find, learn from or just get enjoyment or at the other end of the spectrum, think you are complete nutter… but if you can have say, affiliate products, programs related to your site or just adsense even, you may make a few dollars.

You’ve probably gone hunting (surfing) for information on something and then come across a website… It’s strange where you can actually end up… and you may have clicked an adsense ad, or looked at some book promoted on the site and ended up buying it. It’s something I do… If it’s answering a question I have and it’s going to offer me a solution, I’ll spend a few dollars to buy it. We live in a consumer market after all!

So when you do any of those tasks, you’ll be giving the website owner, from whence you purchased or clicked, a “bit of coin” in their pocket. You’re happy, hopefully, and the website owner is too.

So really thats marketing as a side affect.

Then there is the deliberate, lets build a website to make money from… Hmm, yeah for some strange reason, unless it’s something I’m passionate about, doesn’t get my all that excited. My “button” if you can call it that, is learning all the “stuff” you can do on the Internet and showing others how to do it. Which often comes about from someone saying in conversation… “I want to do “this” or “that” but I have no idea how to… And if I know it, they’ll get to hear about it. If I don’t, I’ll go and find out, if I have the time.

I know I keep drifting from the topic, but when it comes to marketing, I’ve probably digested as much information as you can. So it’s up there in my head. The problem is to marry that with what I love doing, that being Teaching.  I’m also probably a bit “mind zapped” by what I’ve seen on offer before. Some has been really good , in fact exceptional as I’ve written about on here… But some has been crap.

So I’m not doing anything really new, but my main aim is not to teach marketing, it’s to help people get over their issues that stops them from doing their marketing…

Anyway, with all the programming stuff, which I’m naturally attracted to and combine that with marketing, I’ve got a few ideas to play with.

I’ve also really turned off from just chucking out – money sites. Ok, so I’ve got a mental issue about those things. I’ve bought so much rubbish over the years and ended up super dissappointed (strange why I’m even still doing this) I don’t want to be the perpetrator of being that “someone” who is going to give someone else those kinds of experiences. And I have to admit, I’ve fallen for the shiny things and then gone out telling the world about them only to find out later they weren’t so shiny once you looked really deeply. I never said I was a saint!

Which is why I really used to Cringe at the thought of marketing. But what is it really? My version of it is to provide people with quality services/products and by using marketing as way to get those people in need of an answer to see my offers and make the exchange. I get paid, and they get what they were looking for.

But for a very long time, I never “asked for the money”. Which I’ve since been told is due to some kind of “non deserving” attitude. Which is crazy. I mean when I’m working for someone, I’m happy to get paid for my time. It’s what we were brought up to do. Sheltered behind the walls away from customers. You don’t think of your boss as a customer. Which is strange when you think about it.

They (the company) had a need. You came along and said “hey I’m your Man ( or woman)”. They took you on. You do your job and get paid. Simple!

Then why is it so hard when I’m dealing direct or indirectly with a customer online.  I am getting my head around the concept. I kind of blame the education system that teaches you to be a slave than an entrepreneur. Gee I even spelled that correctly the first go!

So I can talk you ear off ( cause I’ll re-explain anything you’re not getting a handle on – I’ve never had very long classes to make sure someone in the room understood  what we were talking about – have I? Well everyone else in the room sure ends up understanding. Poor folk, but they hang around for hours on end lapping it up)  and make you do the tasks needed so you “got” whatever it is we were talking about.

Since I’ve been following a few actually successful people who have their heads on straight and seem to know exactly where I’m coming from and how I should be getting to where I want to go, things have definitely opened up. My whole view on marketing has changed. Besides the marketing itself, what’s sparked me up is all the measuring you should be doing. The name for that is “metrics”. So simply, if you send out a bunch of emails promoting something actually useful, it’s kind of helpful to know how many people read them and how many ended up either subscribing your list and who ended up buying or not buying.

It’s a kind of science! So with my fascination with the techy stuff, I’ll probably get sidetracked coming up with more scripts etc. But you’ve got to realize alot of this stuff is already out there. It’s just knowing where it is and them working out how to use it. And this is why it’s very important to have a network. In my network, I’ve got some very good “sniffers” for want of a better word. They are very good at finding things I have no clue about. Things I wouldn’t find in a blue moon. So please, network with folk interested in what you want to do.

And find mentors, people who have already done what you want to do, and learn from them. This doesn’t apply to only marketing, it applies to any interest or occupation. Many minds make light work of learning what you need to know and helping put it into action. I’ve written on here about the “mentors” I’m now following after tailing behind some that were good to some real shockers, even one that I’m hoping is going to have a room mate called Bubba in a small room with a door he don’t have the key for.

Ok, well I think I’ve bored you enough in this rather disjointed rambling. What was it about again? Oh how I used to hate Marketing… Well it’s something that gives you a whole lot of options… I’m rather keen on being one of the folk that gets paid when I’m not actually working. Work hard once, get paid for sometime down the track.

It’s so very possible to do, and when you see how some are doing it and who those folk are, gives you even more hope! Never think you’ll never make it! You will.

Whoops I went on a little bit further…I had better get to doing some work now I’ve got this off my chest!

Cheers

Tim

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/i-used-to-hate-marketing/feed 0 Why would you buy from a Review Page http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/why-would-you-buy-from-a-review-page http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/why-would-you-buy-from-a-review-page#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:12:39 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=465

In other words, if you were searching for a solution to some problem you have, and the majority of us have the problem of not being rich enough to quit our jobs, and found a website reviewing a product or service, why would you buy from that persons link?

The Dangers of Writing Reviews.

Now I’m very guilty of this myself of the number 1 Bad thing to do. That being, turning your review into a Sales page.

It’s easy to do. You buy product X or join a membership program and the 1st thing you want to do is write a review about it.

Of course your intention is to get people to…

  • Find your review and
  • Buy/join through your affiliate link.

Pre Sell, Don’t Sell.

A good review should Presell the reader into clicking on your link and letting the vendors Sales Page do the selling.

Preselling is a process where you have to put yourself in the shoes of your prospective customer. I’m sure you’ve read your fair share of reviews and salespages and bought “this” and joined “that”. Did they live up to their promises? Did you get what you expected?

You have to give a honest explanation that will give your visitor a good picture of the benefits they’ll get. Then they can decide if it’s worth looking at, and let the salespage do the selling.

Explain the Benefits and not the Features!

Your reader wants to know what is in it for them. How is this going to help them. One of the other dangers is just rambling on about what something has… Not what it’s going to do to answer question A or solve problem B… I’ve done the “Feature Rave”  so many times I need to go back over what I’ve written and rewrite most of my reviews.

Again, your visitor wants to know the Good, the bad and the ugly about what it is you are reviewing. So what, they may decide not to buy it. Obviously it wasn’t what they needed. But they will come to listen to you cause you tell it like it is. So you might get your visitor thinking “Hmmm, heres a new product, wonder what Tim has to say about it…”

Be Negative where you have to be Negative.

Sometimes there are a few disappointments after you purchased Product X. So don’t be scared to write about those. I think it’s better to bring those up than have your purchaser finding them and then thinking..”Hmmm that was a little disappointing.. That Tim said it was good, but it didn’t do this or that…” Then I’m left with someone that ain’t so keen to listen to me ever again.

Don’t Review something you are Not Using.

Ok well I have done this once or twice way way back in the days of old. But seriously, if you are going to review something, buy the thing and look at it. Even Use It… Try it yourself. Find out the Good, the Bad and the Ugly ( a favorite movie of mine as well ).  Give it a Rating.

The Hardest Market to Sell to is Other Marketers.

Here’s the scenario… Some one discovers Internet Marketing. Just like you and I have. So they have bought Product X, that promptly tells them to promote it and they’ll make a killing…

Some do.. The other 95%, that’s the touted number of people who end up dropping out, Fall flat on their face but Product Y comes along with new promises… and the cycle continues.

The better Programs tell you to stay clear of the internet marketing audience and go after the other trillion people who are looking for answers to other issues… That’s called Niche Marketing. It can and does work!

Be yourself

Don’t try putting on the average Hyper Selling hat on and write something like you would write to a friend. Another thing I’ve been guilty of! Be yourself.

In the sometime impersonal world of the Internet, if you write like someone that your reader can trust, AND they think they’ll benefit from what you are reviewing then it’s highly likely they take the next step and check out what it is you are writing about.

Now you may or may not agree with what I’ve written here and that’s fine. I’d like to hear your comments on this because it’s a subject that has many sides to it. I’ve given mine, you are welcome to give yours. There’s nothing like a healthy debate and we may all learn something new.

Cheers

Tim Brownlaw

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/why-would-you-buy-from-a-review-page/feed 0 InternetIncomeAcademy – Webhosting http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-webhosting http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-webhosting#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:19:48 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=441

I just had to try out the Web hosting that’s included in the InternetIncomeAcademy members area.

What I had to do.

Register a domain name – I already have a bunch of them gathering dust so I chose http://www.virtualabandon.com

  1. Change the Nameserver Settings as indicated in the IIA members area for the hosting.
  2. Entered in the domain name www.virtualabandon.com into the Hosts Text box and clicked on the “HOST” button.

The hosting account was created and new entry appeared in my website list.

Then all you do is…

  1. Click on the Login Button and you are taken straight to your Cpanel for that website. That’s a nice feature. No extra passwords to remember.
  2. Under Cpanel – Click on the Fantasitco Icon and select the installation of WordPress.
  3. Follow the instructions and before you know it, you’ve got a simple wordpress site installed.

Note: There is a more automated way available via the members area I haven’t tried yet. Umm yeah I still get stuck on doing things the old way. Actually I normally dont use Fantatisco but I did this time to avoid the FTP step.

All it takes now is to login with the details you provided during the fantastico WordPress installation and you can do what you can do with any WordPress website.

I’m not sure as to the number of sites you can have but keep this in mind. These sites will only remain while you are a member. Which isn’t a big deal as the same applies if you are hosting them through anyone.

There are videos to explain each and every step so you won’t get lost…

I’ve not yet tested out the “Website builder” that is provided. That’ll be next.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-webhosting/feed 0 InternetIncomeAcademy – A breath of fresh air! http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-a-breath-of-fresh-air http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-a-breath-of-fresh-air#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:45:41 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=429

Note: The prices stated in this post are for the 1st 500 Members as this is a new program. So you can lock in the special discount offer.

Now I could start out by saying – It’s only $1 for the 1st 7 Days then it’s only $27 USD per month from then on….. but that probably won’t grab your attention, although it should. Yes’ it’s cheap to try out and Yes it’s quite affordable as a Training system, but is it a good one?

Well I went ahead and spent my $1 to see what it is all about. I’m always looking for good training programs and having been a part of some and helped build one, I have to say this really did impress me and I’m still smiling.

Why?

Well the first thing that made me smile was, I was just about to click on the pay button and spend my $1 fearing I was going to be presented with a One Time Offer where you “Pay X more dollars and get this and get that….” What happened was a page came up explaining what an OTO ( One Time Offer ) is and how it can be used to help monetize your website and the explanation was impressive. As it’s a training membership they decided to have it as a lesson and Not a way to get more dollars out of you.

Then you get to the next page which talks about how they are going to do live classes on setting up a profitable website from scratch. “Oh no here comes an OTO” so I thought. But these guys are clever! Instead they throw about a few prices on how much it could cost you and state quite clearly that it’s for Free and included in the membership.

Now the fun begins

Most times when you land in one of these “Training Programs” members pages you sit back dazzled by everything that’s available. But fear not! There is a step by step guide to help get you started. One thing that stops people dead in their tracks is being swamped by “stuff” and not knowing what to do first.

One of the main benefits of this system is that it is very Community based. And you are guided on how to become involved in it. The Videos included in these steps are very clear although the 2nd one is rather long , over 42 minutes BUT it explains everything and is a must “View” if you are serious in using this system to it’s fullest.

You get shown how to put up your image on your profile so that others can find out about You. A Section for success stories. If you need help with a website, or want to call out to the other members to JV or whatever it is, you can do so via the Jobs Board. So if you have skills, you can advertise them. It’s all about helping each other out and getting paid.

If you are stuck on website building, which is a skill you might not have time to master, they have a Website Builder. And you are taught how to use that. Setting up a WordPress site is also taught.

OutSourcing can be scary

I’m actually very wary of outsourcing as I’ve had to “fix up” others sites / scripts freinds of mine have had done by outsourced services. Well you and I now have access to the same Website designing team as these guys use so at least you can have some confidence they’ll be good. It’s a nice option to have if you ever need it. I’m not sure of the pricing although from experience I know that you get what you pay for.

Webhosting Included!

Now I had to watch this part of the Video twice just to make sure I got this bit right. You enter in the domain you’ve just registered, click a button and Boom you are hosted. It’s all explained in the hosting section. Then you can login into that websites Cpanel and do all of the magic stuff. And this is part of the membership? It’s too cheap but it’s part of the membership. See I’m still reeling from just finding out about that. I have to check this out more….

Calendar and Todo Section

This is getting crazy! There is a section you can list your Tasks you need to do. Always a handy feature and again I’ve seen this service only available on systems costing a whole lot more…

I’ve not even got into the learning center yet.

Next Stop – Learn the Fundamentals

There is a section – as part of the initial steps – to go over and learn the Fundamentals. Something which we all love to skip But if you are serious at making an income online it is essential you learn the basics.

Then there is a whole bunch of  “Tutorials” and they are all available so you can look at it all. If you are new I’d recommend starting at the beginning. In fact it wouldn’t hurt to do that no matter what level you are at now. Repetition never hurt and you never know what little snippets you don’t know.

There is a Forum

Yep, every good website like this has a Forum. I personally hold Forums in high regard. In fact without Forums I’d not know what I know today. One bad thing about Forums is a lot of people have what I call – “Forum Fear”. Either because they are uncertain on how to use it and are afraid of “Stuffing up” or just don’t feel comfortable in asking a question in fear of others reacting in a “not nice” way. Or never getting an answer…

Don’t be scared of a Forum that is part of a a membership system like this. One of the things you can be assured of is that the other members are in the same boat. Those who do know the answers will give them and if anyone does act in a not so nice manner will be quickly dealt with.

No Question is a Dumb Question

Something I’ll say till the end of my days, and probably after that as well. As I teach “techy stuff” , it’s one thing I’m often reminding my students of… Never be scared to ask. There is nothing worse being stuck on something that someone else knows the answer to. Which is why I do what I do with my teaching as seeing others struggle on stuff I know drives me nuts and I’ll always try to get an answer to them. Which I can in IIA, in the forum!

Internet marketing is no different. A Dumb Question is a question not asked!

This is an Extremely well thought out Program.

What hasn’t it got? I come up with website ideas and can write PHP and design databases till I’m blue in the face, so I can really appreciate what’s been put together in InternetIncomeAcademy. If you don’t even do mildy well with the systems and the lessons provided only means you never spent anytime in going through the steps ( checklist ) and gone over the fundamentals.

I’ve just completed my profile and I’m about to make some entries in the blog you get as part of this system, so I’m off to get stuck into this.

$1 for 7 days….. I hope that now you’ll be prepared to drop your Dollar and check this out. Make sure you go through the Steps and complete each one… Which you can do in , oh about an hour I’d say… Not forgetting the 42 minute “this is an explanation of the world of IIA” Video. Yes I watched it all.

If I find out anything really good about this I’ll let you know.

If you’ve skimmed the rest of this post – see above – I already have!

This is Great Value

$1 Dollar for 7 Days to kick the tyres then only $27 USD per month afterwards (For the 1st 500 Members) . I mean , this has more in it than the other programs I am in and while I like those ( cause I’ve written about them ) I would seriously look at this and see if it’s a good fit for you.

This is another great way to get you out in front of others in a internet marketing community. Get the training, get the tools ( which has exceeded my expectations and leaves some of the others for dead ) and do what it is you’ve been wanting to do – Making Sales!!!!!!!!!!

Spend $1 Today and get cracking

Spend your $1 at InternetIncomeAcademy and get cracking.  You’ve got 7 days to cancel if you decide it’s not for you so you’ve got nothing to loose. (The sales page is a Video – make sure you watch it and you’ll see everything I’ve mentioned above. It is long but it’s time well spent)

I’d love to hear your comments about this so please feel free to comment.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-a-breath-of-fresh-air/feed 1 Review of MailChimp http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/review-of-mailchimp http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/review-of-mailchimp#comments Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:41:43 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=422

Review of MailChimp

One of the topics that has arisen in TrafficLeads2Income is that of Free Autoresponder services… You can read what I posted there at RobsNetworkers Forum .

MailChimp is a Autoresponder Service that offers a Free Account giving you a 500 Subscriber Limit and a 3000 Email sends per Month,

So if you were to get to your 500 Subscribers you could email each of them 6 times per month making this a program worth further investigation.

Once you go over the 500 Subscriber limit – its $15 per month up to 1000 subscribers and then it starts getting more pricier than the Awebers and GetResponse Services that cost around $18 USD per month for up to 10,000 Subscribers.

Compared to other services like GVO’s EResponder which is included in your Titanium Hosting package, giving you **unlimited hosting at $44.95 USD per month with a limit of 20,000 Subscribers and **unlimited campaigns, MailChimp becomes far too expensive and GVO becomes even more attractive.

Changing Services with an existing List.

So for a service to get started out with, it might be an option. But what if you wanted to change Services once you get over your 500 or 1000 subscribers?

You could export your subscribers into another Autoresponder Service? That can be a painful experience. The worst case being the new service requiring that each imported subscriber be sent a new “Confirmation” Email where they’ll have to open it and click on the link to join the new list. This is a process the new Autoresponder Service will provide once you import your list.

You may loose a few subscribers who don’t get to see your email during the changeover, but you will be keeping those that actually read your emails. So the damage may not be that great. You could consider it as a process of cleaning your list.

Another, wiser option would be to email your list from your old Autoresponder service, advising them of the upcoming change and over a few emails , ask them to join your new list. If you have a responsive list, you should get a much higher subscription rate.

The Pros

Apart from the aspect of the high cost of having a 1000+ list, the sites user interface is one of the best I have seen.

There is help everywhere and for someone starting out, this would be of great value in learning the in’s and out’s of an Autoresponder.

It might be so attractive and easy to use that you may even stay with them and pay the extra.

They have an extensive list of plugins for the popular website scripts like WordPress, Joomla, and some Ecommerce Scripts. Making it very “plug in and play” without the need of having to write any HTML or PHP. But then so do Aweber and GetResponse.

It’s really a matter of what you are comfortable using.

There are, of course, many other Service that offer a Free Entry level subscription. When I find those that I consider worthy of note, I’ll talk about them.

You can of course add those that you use in the comments. So please feel free to tell us about the ones you are using and how you rate them.

Note: **Unliimited is used to mean – Alot.. In the case of the webhosting that’s 75Gig of diskspace at the time of writing. Which is Alot!

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/review-of-mailchimp/feed 0 TrafficLeads2Income – Update #2 http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/trafficleads2income-update-2 http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/trafficleads2income-update-2#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:54:31 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=410

Hold the Press, I’ve gone and made a Squeeze Page!

I’ve been attending the majority of Conferences Rob Gehring holds on a weekly basis come rain, hail or shine , that’s Rob being consistent as he’s a stickler for giving support.

And I also haunt the Skype Group and in both of those I keep seeing people talking about and showing off their newly made Lead Capture Pages which is a part, and an important part of the system.

So it’s a little embarrasing when I’ve been a part of the development team and not to have mine up and running.

So I made a Plan. As I’m already a happy camper at GVO, I decided to try out their new Autoresponder that is called the “EResponder”. I’ve not been a big fan of the previous incarnation of their supplied Autoresponder and I actually went as far as going for a Third Party Option at GetResponse.

Anyway, it seems they have got this new Autoresponder RIGHT! I actually quite like it. It gives me easy to view Stats… Something Getresponse is lacking in. Let’s me easily create campaigns.  Has Video tutorials to assist in the setup. But what I really like is the default “Thankyou” Page.

It’s professional, to the point and you can choose between Female and Male speakers as a little voice that gives you an audio version of what’s going on. A very very nice touch in my opinion.

It also has the ability to send back the posted information to a thankyou page of your choosing so you can “personalize” it… Something I like a whole bunch and something I can do some magic with my TrafficLeads2Income Lead Capture pages. But that’s for another post.

Definitely something we hadn’t realized when we were developing this system…

Anyway, getting back to my new Lead Capture Page… I actually made a few of them but this is the one I’m now sending out among the Few Traffic Exchanges I’ve been using for years…

My New TrafficLeads2Income – Lead Capture Page

My New TrafficLeads2Income – Lead Capture Page is… http://www.trafficleads2income.com/members/lcp.php?rid=6

I’ve customized it quite a lot from the default page you start off with.  I also took an unusual step in throwing in a note and a disclaimers on the bottom.

On Traffic Exchanges you see so many of these sort of pages promising the earth I thought I’d make it little “in your face” and personal.

After all, if you are going to be inviting people into programs, you want to be brutally honest with them and get things straight from the start as I’ll be working with them. You can’t build a business behind a mask and lies ( or lack of the truth ).

So I might not get lots of people leaving me their name and email address. Maybe I will.

I have found in the past that being upfront does alot in making people feel more at ease with you. Plus you stand out as either a “nutter” (pass you by) or someone that they can trust ( and want to work with you). Better that they work that out first.

And Trust , as in any relationship, personal or business, is vital.

So does the system work?

Yes, it does. I’ve found the support and encouragement from the members amongst each other to be one of the programs mainstays. When someone new comes along, and is bewildered by everything, the members get in there and help them out.

Which is happening more and more in a lot of the better programs out there. Hmm maybe that’s why they are the better programs. This is opossed to joining up to some program and reading the ebooks , watching a few videos and being left to do what want which usually results in “not much”.

With a Forum, 24/7 Skype Group, Weekly Conferences involving a driving force like Mr Gehring, whuch rubs off on us all, you’d be hard pressed Not to Succeed. But if you do nothing, that’s what you’ll get.

So if you are wanting to get into some kind of program where you are actually going to be Achieving by doing and you start seeing results… Well that becomes as infectious as “Failing” but with much better results.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/trafficleads2income-update-2/feed 0 Mike Filsaime Butterfly Marketing Script Now Open Source http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/mike-filsaime-butterfly-marketing-script-now-open-source http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/mike-filsaime-butterfly-marketing-script-now-open-source#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:03:00 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=383

A funny thing happened to me on the way to my Inbox…

Well actually it happened when I got to my inbox and read this email regarding Mike Filsaime giving away the source code to his ButterFly Marketing Script.

First of all disbelief struck me. After all Mike’s been selling this script for sometime now and the people who bought it have done quite well with it.

The other reason disbelief flooded through my veins was the fact that our group at Internet Niche Lab have been developing a much smaller version of a membership script over the last few weeks and this drops in my lap!

You Can Modify this script and resell it!

That’s right, you can make it your own, promote it and sell it. Using the script itself to do it of course. Well that falls right up my alley.

I’m looking over this script!

I’ve installed the script and it worked straight out of the box as you would expect and I’m going over it to see what it has. Plus what we can do to improve/ add to it.

It’s Free So you can get your own!

Yep, you can go and grab it right now at ButterFlyOpenSource .

Is there a Catch?

You bet there is! But it is a clever one. Mike has started up a “Developers Network” which costs $200USD one time payment.

The reason behind this is simple, Mike will be building a community of developers and I’m guessing, any improvements will be available to the members.

For me, I’m going to sit back on that offer. First of all I’ve got to take a good look at this code.

But if you have a spare $200USD and want to join in on this community I’d strongly suggest that you do. As you’ll be getting fresh updates, to what was already an effective script, for a lot less than the >$1200 price tag it once had and you are looking for a good solid membership script. Then it’s a bargain.

Being able to be a part of a Community of a Software project that will greatly benefit you is a golden opportunity.

The Downside!

The downside is, if you do choose to resell the Free  script that is available, all support etc falls upon your shoulders.

Which is only fair. You get it for Free, it becomes your baby along with everything you need to do to support it.

You’d have to make your own changes or hire a programmer to do them. There are a few gremlins in the Free Version but it’s still quite useable.

This is another clever example of list building by giving away a very neat script with the aim of getting people to join the Developers Network.

So there is a lesson to be learned from all this. It’s a great way to get folk in front of his Developers Network and be inside where all the action is.

What’s Next?

Well I’m going to show this to the gang at Internet Niche Lab and see if we should persure using this script for what we want to do. And if you join us at Internet Niche Lab as a paid member, you’ll get the changes / modes we will be making,  plus you’ll have access to all the other useful scripts we develop.

In my PHP Classes, that is  what we do. We find a problem and write a script to solve it. The membership script being one of those. Now we have access to use the ButterFlyOpenSource script as a basis to solve this issue.

I’ll have a follow up to this as soon as I delve further into this amazing script!

Till then, happy marketing and website building etc.

Cheers

Tim Brownlaw

[Update - 6 Feb 2011]

I’m now using the Butterfly Marketing Script on a new membership site I am creating.
It’s still in it’s early days but you can see what’s going on over at LookingOverMyShoulder.com

[Update - 20 May 2011]

I’ve been making some changes to the script which I’m posting on the forum at LookingOverMyShoulder.com.

You can read the Forum , but to be able to post and get access to the members only area, you will need to “Sign Up“. It’s Free!

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