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There are a lot of internet marketers out there that work really hard to build websites that produce money day in and day out.  In fact more today then ever.  I myself have income from many different projects even some of my early "failures" over time turned around and spit out some cash on occasion.

I also am either a partner in and or out right own several companies.  In addition I even have some investment property.  Hold on though this is not a brag about Jack Spirko post at all.  In fact what I am hoping is many of you are going, "so what I have done more then that myself" because what I want to suggest to those who are successful today is that you check out Donald Trumps new book on Asset Protection. 

I was actually given a copy of this book early by Josef Katz when we visited with Trump University in November.  I read it almost non stop on the plane back to Dallas.  No this isn't a motivational and fired up business book but it isn't dry by any means either.  I learned so many ways to protect what we have and have worked so hard for.  I learned how there are also people that basically sue for a living and how to be such a tough target that they generaly choose to ignore you.  In short I learned how to be wealthy and look penniless on paper. 

This is no "do it yourself" manual you will need to use attorneys and accounts etc. to do a lot of the things in this book but it will help you learn what to do, how to do it right and of course how to do it for less. 

Now would be the time to buy it as well because Trump U is pulling out all the stops to make this book a hit and push it up the Amazon Charts.  Check out this offer,

Buy Asset Protection 101 and You also Get

• 3  J.J. Childers E-Books-valued at $19.95 each, these 3 e-books provide you with even more information about protecting your wealth, saving on taxes, and enjoying a stress-free retirement.
• 5 Special Reports-over 100 pages of extra material to help you build your wealth structure (worth $150!).
• The Top 50 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions-this gift alone could save you thousands of dollars when April comes around again!
• J.J.'s Asset Protection Worksheet-the master's tool to show you where you may be vulnerable to lawsuits and how you can minimize your tax burden.
• Asset Video - addressing specific asset protection issues, which you can view on your computer
• 20% off the registration fee for Trump University's Wealth Preservation: Asset Protection Retreat featuring instructor J.J. Childers.

By the way there are still more bonuses!  To learn more visit the Asset Protection Special Offer at Trump University.  I am not sure how long they will be running this offer but if I were you I would act now.

Popularity: 8% [?]

My son is now 18 and off in college but we have a lot of memories in the form of pennies that we "smashed" into something cool.  I am sure at one time or another you have come across penny press machines in your travels.  As my son grew up it was something we did on just about every trip, usually a few times on each trip.  Heck of a lot of memories in those pennies some examples of places we have them from include,

• Baltimore, Maryland
• Jim Thrope, Pennsylvania (you got to see the autumn leaves their at some point in your life)
• The Houston Space Center
• Sanibel Island Florida
• The Philadelphia Zoo
• Nashville, Tennessee

And a bunch more, I even got him a folder made for keeping them in.  When you think about it a penny machine is a simple and inexpensive way to create a unique collectible with a specific memory attached to it.  I can remember when Matt was small and needed help to crank the handle when I look at those little smashed pennies that is the type of thing I remember.  In short those pennies are priceless to me.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A lot of people seem to believe that SEO is about nothing more then getting a web page to rank well for high traffic terms on Google and the other major search engines.  Back in the dawn of SEO that was pretty much the case and anyone that could do it consistently was quickly able to gather clients at almost break neck speed.  Then something happened, as we say here in Texas, "the chickens came home to roost" and well, there were some unhappy chickens.   Indulge me a second on the chickens, you see when chickens go "out" for the day they pick on this and that, eat some bugs and do what ever they feel like but at some point they come back to the coop and they expect to be fed.

In the same manner SEOs got clients all sorts of rankings but in the end the client expected (rightfully so) to see a very measurable increase in revenue.  In some instances the increase was there but in many it was not.  During this period most SEO firms only made changes to clients web sites with a single goal, increase rankings.  Optimizers felt if they brought you traffic their job was done it was up to your company to have a product that sold and a message to sell it.

I personally always saw this philosophy as massively flawed!  I honestly don't even like the terms, SEO and Search Engine Optimization, I only use them because they have become the industry adopted term and the one that lets people easily understand what our company does.  To me Search Engine Marketing or just Search Marketing, are a much more appropriate terms.

You see to me the "optimization of search engine traffic" is a holistic process, one that simply can not end with a click and a visit.  Just last week my company Franklin Spirko Media, was fortunate to gain a new client.  The client is Trump University, which is Donald Trump's online educational business that provides Real Estate Training, advice on Wealth Creation and how to become a successful entrepreneur.  As you can imagine we are very happy to have signed a consulting agreement with such a well known company and there is no shortage of competitors that would like to have this opportunity.  If I had to state why I believe we were given the opportunity, I would say it was two primary things.  First we were able to show that we have a great deal of competence and Knowledge about SEO and second that our primary concern was increasing conversions.

Honestly if you have a good network of sites and partners, reasonable skills in regard to on site optimization and the work ethic to make sure you get everything done, rankings in and of themselves are not that difficult to achieve even for many highly competitive terms.  The real question is what happens after the visitor comes to the web site?  There are a series of things we ask about and or look into prior to any attempt to gain a ranking for a term, they are…

1.  Has any PPC been done around the term, if so how did it convert?  If a term does not convert well with PPC, then in most instances it is not going to convert well organically either.  In fact beyound direct conversion and profit one of the greatest things about PPC is it can quickly for a small investment tell you exactly what terms to really target and which are not worth the man hours.

2.  What is the goal of the page the ranking is being attempted for?  It may seem silly but many times people ignore this!  If the site has an over riding goal then many SEOs simply try to get any related term ranked for any page.  The right way to do things is to look at the page, determine its' conversion goals and seek terms that are likely to bring in visitors in the right part of the cycle.  In other words very broad terms often work well for things like a free membership or news letter opt ins, yet if the page is more of a direct sales page, terms must be far more targeted.

3.  What other advertising is being done and how is the sales process working in conjunction with the web site.  You have to look beyound search engines today to do a good job as a search marketer.  You need every scrap of data a client is willing to share with you, direct mail, seminars and anything else that pushes people into the clients process.  There are always nuggets of gold in this data, nuggets that create viral link building, social media campaigns and other other over looked opportunities.  People don't realize that things like Digg, YouTube and other new media sites are becoming "ways people find web sites and information".  If they are ways people find information to me that makes them a form of "search" and therefore something you can't afford to ignore.

4.  What analytical data is available and what additional tracking can be installed?  SEOs should live inside the analytical data of a clients site.  Not a day should go by with out at least a look at current data and trends.  This process leads good Internet Marketers to a point where they actually are able to do what I call, "feel the pulse of a web site".  In time with the right mind set you are able to know at once when something changes about a site, you can almost feel a very modest trend forming before it is really visible and you can take advantage of positive changes quickly or head off negative ones before they have a marked result.

These are just four of the areas SEOs really need to be involved in beyond simple link building, on page optimization and monthly reporting.  To sum it up a good firm needs to treat a clients site better then their own.  If you could bring 5000 visitors a day to your own site but it didn't do anything to positively impact your revenue would you do it?  Would you invest the man hours, money and resources to gain a ranking just because there was traffic behind it if there was no real value to the traffic?  Of course not, when we invest a clients money it is up to agencies and firms to evaluate the time and money of the client with the same critical eye we would evaluate our own budgets with.  Optimization is not just about traffic, it is about optimized traffic and whether you are working on you own website or a clients site you have to keep that in mind.  Your goal is to optimize the entire process and the best way you can do that is to test, measure and question every piece of the process along the way.  Doing so results not only in happy clients but a better image for SEO industry wide.

~ Jack Spirko 

Technorati Tags: seo, search engine optimization, internet marketing, search marketing, wealth creation, web 2.0, new media, social search, real estate training, successful entrepreneur, wealth creation

Popularity: 18% [?]

I recently checked out a website that helps people find title insurance companies with a search feature that works a lot like sites that search for things like Hotels, Telecommunications Providers, Airlines, etc. There was a lot of title insurance information on the site that was helpful.  For instance I did not know that title insuance is basicly an insurance policy that protects the lender and the property owner as well) against loss due to disputes over the ownership of a property and defects in the title that were not found in the search of the public record.  I just always saw it as one of those fees that the buyer pays to benefit the lender and the mortgage company

To me it seems that consumers have become accustomed to this model and it makes me wonder where else we might take that type of search feature as Internet Marketers.  I mean if a title insurance company can adapt a sort and search technology to better serve and inform users then there must be an opportunity in other niches.

So what interesting and unique types of search/sort/shopping sites can you think of that break outside of the normal places we expect to see them?  Or what opportunites can you think of for this type of search driven site can you think of that have yet to be utilized. 

Popularity: 5% [?]

I blogged over a week ago that layoffs were coming for Yahoo and today they have occurred.  In fact the total layoffs have been announced at 1000 people.

What I found interesting is this article from Search Engine Watch that has 4 very positive things for marketers to see in this adjustment.  They are….

1. Search marketers can count on improved click-through rates from Yahoo searchers clicking on paid search (PPC) ads.

2. Search continues to be strong and as close to "recession-proof" as any form of online advertising. Advertisers can expect high ROI unless the recession significantly reduces commercial searches.

3. Yahoo share of searches continue to increase, reassuring major brands and search marketers that the Yahoo spotlight will continue to shine on search.

4. Search marketing agencies who specialize in one vertical would be well-advised to diversify their client portfolio, with weakness in housing, financial services, travel, and to a lesser extent retail.

In any event it is clear that Yahoo is not in the hole just moving to maximize their business model.  I feel band for anyone laid off but I have a feeling some of those let go will be courted pretty aggressively by those who would like to get inside the head of a "Professional Yahoo"

Popularity: 3% [?]

I remember 4 years ago when I moved my family from Pennsylvania back to Texas.  We were traveling with 2 dogs and 2 cats.  What an "experience" that was!  Since we were just moving it was one of those drive until you are to tired to see, find a hotel and then crash for a while, get back in and keep going.

Hard part was finding a hotel that would let the animals in.  In Virginia I eventually found a place where they were OK with the dogs and we just did not mention the cats.  I had to sneak them in and was able to pull it off.

I sure wish I had known about a website that offers your the ability to find pet friendly hotels back then. The site is called Official Pet Hotels and it is really cool they even have a section with excellent pet travel tips.   What do you think the first one was?

Before leaving, check to make sure the hotel accepts pets. And check either our on-line
advertisements or directly with the hotel, to find out any restrictions, fees, etc.

Well that is one I certainly would have followed had I known about this website back then.  The site is simple to use you just enter a bit of information like you would at any hotel site and they provide a list of available hotels for you and you can make your reservations online.  The difference is simply that all the hotels accept pets.

This site is a brilliant example of understanding a need in the market and addressing it.  The real cool thing though is how this site is very niched focused simply by combining to very broad markets.  Think about these industries individually, the pet industry and the hotel industry.  Both are huge and hyper competitive markets but combined OfficialPetHotels.com makes them very focused and far more effective.

Think about it for a minute how hard would it be to start a new site and compete in either of these markets alone?  The marketers behind this website have a lot to be proud of.  Not only is this a cool site to look at as a web marketer but it offers a very cool service.  I can tell you when traveling with my dogs in the future I will def finitely use it.  As for traveling with the cats, well, I don't plan on ever doing that again.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I watch all the new ways to market online come out.  Demographic targeting from Google, mobile search is booming and behavioral targeting is getting more accurate.  More and more main stream marketing professionals are beginning to truly understand the internet.  I firmly believe we are still in the dark ages of real hard core Internet Marketing by big powerful companies.  People that really know what they are doing are still in very short supply.

Right now anyone with a bit of knowledge, a blog and a web editing program can make money online, in fact very good money online.

What do you think about all the advances?  Will making money get easier, harder or stay the same.  Will major corporations take over 90% of the market or will the small time marketer retain the advantage of being faster and more nimble then the big companies that debate every decision before acting with untold meetings and fears?

I have my opinion but for now I want yours.  Please comment below. 

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you read this blog then you know I am a hard core internet marketer but that doesn't mean that I don't know the value of high quality business mailing lists, targeted telemarketing lists and accurate consumer lists.  In fact when I worked with Sage Telecom we did millions of direct mail pieces per month for one main reason, it works.  That is why I really like a website I was just asked to review called Guaranteed Lists.

Guaranteed Lists is an exceptional service that offers the largest business database available anywhere, with information on over 13 million U.S. based companies and a total of 57 million companies worldwide, ranging from large public corporations to small privately owned firms. If your business if more of a B-to-C enterprise then you will appreciate that they have over 280 million consumers in their databases with highly targeted information.

The real value of a data base is the accuracy of the data and being able to specifically target the right prospects.  Guaranteed Lists can help you really target very specific prospects for example if you do B-to-B marketing you can target specific business demographics like

• President/CEO/Owner
• C Level Contacts (CFO, etc.)
• Doctors Dentists
• Attorneys
• CPA/ Accountants
• Small Businesses Owners
• Large Businesses
• Public or Private Companies
• And Many Other Options

On the B-to-C side of things you have an equally impressive list of criteria such as…

• Home Owners
• Renters
• Time in Residence
• Age
• Income Level
• Marital Status
• Net Worth
• And Just About Any Other Common Demographic

For the high volume user they even offer a Perferred Customer Program that offers a 25% Discount to any customer then qualifies in one of three ways,

1. Buy more than 25,000 records per quarter
2. Buy lists more than 3 times per quarter
3. Refer 2 or more customers per year

So if you are looking to ramp up your direct mail or telemarketing efforts give Gaurnteed Lists an opportunity to offer you a free quote. 

Popularity: 3% [?]

The beast of Google continues to grow, evolve and dominate.  Last year Google bought Double Click which is honestly just a "legal" spyware provider that tracks user behavior online.  Now according to Search Engine Watch Google is Beta Testing Demographic Targeting for AdWords.  As a marketer I will of course use this feature and I am actually excited about it on the surface.

It does beg the question though of where is this all going?  How long before Google knows everything about everyone?  How much of that information will the government require/ask for/take in the future?

Something to think about. 

Popularity: 3% [?]

Now this is something new different and cool.  I just was asked to review a new service called Net Audio Ads that allow a site owner to make money for every single visitor that stays on your site for about 5 seconds.  They call this new type of advertising…wait for it…pay per play or PPP.   It seems like a pretty easy program to work, all you do is add some code to your website and when a visitor lands on it a short 5 second audio commercial plays in the background.

For high traffic informational sites this seems like a no brainer drop some code, don't even need a click and each visitor is cha ching money in the bank.  The question will be how much will they pay per play?  At a penny it could add up for a high traffic site.  At a nickel a play it would be really good!  As in even a site with 100 visitors a day would put 5 bucks a day into your account to do absolutely nothing.

I just signed up to be both a publisher and an affiliate.  I recommend you sign up very soon if you would ever want to earn from referring other advertisers because enrollment into the affiliate program will close on February 1st. The affiliate program will pay out on two levels of referrals and I plan to do quite a bit of referring to my email lists.

I do have a few questions that I won't be able to answer until I implement the system 

1.  Will visitors be cookied so as not to be slammed with an ad every page load?  I mean if you do this on a site like a forum where one user views many pages per visit it could be big bucks but it could annoy your users to be hit every page load.  If they do cookie and only play one time per X views or something like that it will be very cool.  If drop the code in your site wide footer and rock on.

2.  Again price per play is going to be key.  They are not telling us right now what the price will be but again for a price per visitor it can make any site with decent traffic a decent return.

3.  What will the typical ad be like?  The sample ad was a Taco Bell ad that honestly would be ok on any type of informational site and may typical sales sites.  Seems with 5 seconds we will be talking mostly simple quick branding messages is so this could be a great tool for big companies and small publishers to get a great benefit from each other.

This type of advertising is not really new and that is a good thing.  If you use AIM for your Instant Messaging you probably have experienced it.  AIM has been playing backgrounds of movie trailers etc for a long time.  I think that type of use in the past may make this advertising fairly well accepted by many surfers.  The short 5 second limit will be key to making it work out and kudos to Net Audio Ads for getting that right strait from the beginning.

I am looking forward to testing this new form of advertising and will blog about my results in the near future. 

Popularity: 3% [?]

Wordpress has what they call the famous 5 minute installation of the Wordpress blog platform.  Can you do it in 5 minutes?  Sure if you have done it before, know your web host's back end well and if you know how to set up a SQL database, edit a raw config file and a few other things.

So does that sound like you?  Honestly I can do it in under five minutes now but I don't do it their way any more.  I have all my blogs on hosts that use Cpanel and Fantastico.  With that I can install a brand new blog with data bases and all in under a minute flat.  Here is the best part so can you!  Even if you don't know anything about setting up a data base or other technical stuff, just a few clicks and typing in your Blog Title, Description, etc is all you need to know.

Now here is the bonus, install your blog this way and you can do Wordpress Updates in under a minute as well.  You just deactivate your plug ins, go into Fantastico, click update, then reactive your plug ins and done. 

The video below is one we provide to our members at our Internet Marketing and SEO Training program called MarketingICE. I decided to do a low res YouTube version and share it with everyone because it can save the person building a blog network so much time and can help new folks get off hosted solutions and onto their own Wordpress platform so easily.  If you want to use this method you just need a web host that uses Cpanel and Fantastico,  I use HostingWithUS but there are lots of Cpanel Hosts out there.

 ~ Jack

Technorati Tags: wordpress, blogging, blog, fantastico, cpanel, web hosting

Popularity: 13% [?]

My previous post on going to Vegas for the PBR along with the fact that it is freezing in Dallas right now has me thinking about vacations.  I was thinking about one particular vacation we took one winter to Tennessee.  It was totally unplanned and was one of the best we have ever taken.  We were headed to northern Arkansas and and ice storm shut down Fayetteville Airport.  The airline offered to fly us anywhere we wanted to go at no charge to make up for us being stuck.  Those were the good old days of being a Platinum Flier with American.

We wanted mountains and tried Denver, Albuquerque and some other spots all either took to much time to get to for our short trip.  Last ditch try I say Nashville they say yes and off we go.  My wife and son ask what is in Tennessee and I say we will see when we get there.  We spent 4 days driving around the state, saw mountains, civil war battlefields and caverns and other cool stuff.  We were never in a rush and everything worked out perfect including getting a car with no reservations at the airport.  We got lucky and it was fun.

If I was to take an impromtu vacation now though I may rely on a service like Trusted Tours and Attractions and take one of their sightseeing tours or may be just beat the cold for a bit and head off on a Miami Vacation.  A bit of sun would be great right now.  One more thing if you visit the Trusted Tours website be sure to sign up for their news letter.  When you do you could win a hand held GPS.  Those things are cool and great to have when you are visiting new city or even just bumping around town.

Popularity: 3% [?]

One of my favorite bloggers is Michael Gray, (aka Graywolf) who is always willing to tell it like it is.  Well he has done it again pointing out a typical hypocritical action taken by Google and showing how sites like MSN and Forbes are given a "free pass" on the issue of duplicate content.

I also noticed that Michael's blog is now down to a PR3 which we all know is total rubbish.  Checking Yahoo Site Explorer the Wolf-Howl Blog has over 111,000 links including some from hugely popular sites like ShoeMoney and Search Engine Journal.

Michael may want to consider being careful for telling the truth of he may one day get smacked to a PR0 just like I did here.  I hope he doesn't back off though, getting smacked but still getting lots of traffic is liberating.  I can now say whatever I want on this blog with no fear, of course I pretty much always have anyway.  Anyway keep it up Gray Wolf! 

Popularity: 3% [?]

One of the coolest sports on the planet has to be bull riding.    I will admit it I am a bit of a red neck at heart but I have taken many people to the rodeo who are not "rodeo types of people" and I have to say all have enjoyed it.    Bull riding is more then just climbing on a bull, holding on and hoping it a very tough, dangerous and exciting sport.  

It just so happens that the best of the best will soon be competing for the world championship in Las Vegas Nevada.    I have only ever scored tickets to the Professional Bull Riders championship one time but it was a great show.    To put it in sports terms is it is like going to the final four in College Basketball or the Super Bowl in the NFL.

While only making the finals one time I have been to quite a few PBR Rodeos and I have one piece of advice, if you are going to go get the best tickets you can afford.     Get up close and personal where you can see, hear and even feel the action it will be worth every penny.    One more little factoid on me personally that I doubt very few people know about is that I actually rode bulls at one time myself. 

It was back in my Army days and we rode what is called "rough stock" which are simply animals that are not really rodeo animals.    I have heard it called tough but I can tell you the animals we rode were mean but no where as big, powerful and adept at throwing a rider as what these pros ride.    I only did it a few times and got ruffed up a bit which at 19 made me think I was cool but you would never get me to do it again.  It does give me a huge respect for the professionals that ride the biggest and fastest bulls in the sport.

So check out the PBR some time and if you are going to be in Vegas anytime soon tickets to the Professional Bull Riders are available at a cool web site called Team One right now.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Well, according to the Shoe Money Blog Yahoo is about to let go of about 2 out of ever ten workers.  This is reported as inside information of which I am usually skeptical but when it comes to Jeremy Shoemaker his inside info tends to be spot on.  This is the guy that called the MyBlogLog buyout by Yahoo a week before it happened.

I personally see this like many others as Yahoo trimming some needed fat but I still keep waiting for Yahoo to get serious about competing with Google.  Yahoo has so many opportunities to really shake things up but they just never seem to connect the dots.  So were will all the folks loosing jobs go to?  I would not surprise me to see perhaps a quarter picked up by Google and may be a tenth by MSN, the others will probably take their knowledge it to what I call the search private sector.

Popularity: 3% [?]