The silence...

People need people, the benefit of comments...

2010-02-08T17:21:00.000Z

... in my back yard, but you are always welcome to comment! :o)

Comments, the community around any blog is built there, nurtured there and in some cases censored too.
Those that seem to censor the comments, there are a few, also say transparency is important to them... yeah right!

Anyway, reading feeds in Greader I am missing out on some great communities in the blogs comments, far to easy to just read the feed and move onto another...

While it's ok to keep the noise level down to a manageable one it's a shame to miss out on the communities on the blogosphere and the great characters within them.

You don't need to join a cult though.

For this reason I am starting to choose the RSS feeds to read in the reader and visiting the blogs I feel have good comments and a good community to them, like one puts it... why your comment section should be like a forum

People need people.

That's the bottom line, sitting here all day typing shit and doing this that and the other can get pretty boring and at times lonely, may sound odd with the millions within reach...but it happens.
People need people to have any sense of connection in the world...
Being deaf I know what a great thing it is to be able to do, if you can't use a phone this is the phone!

If you have a blog do what James does and interact well with the commenters, after all, it's your blog! :o)
If you're like me and naturally social online then it shouldn't be hard.

I'd swap all my almost 2000 twitter followers for a regular 100 commenter's on a blog any day of the week.

What about you?

The third tribe suckers

2010-02-07T03:36:00.001Z

Yesterday was interesting regarding the useless third tribe, saw a few other blog's post after Grizz opened a can of worms that needed opening, Grizz also linked to a few, me included, (thanks Grizz, now hurry up with the 10k post, ;o)) - then go back to your make money online antics.

Interestingly, I have to say here, I have NOT seen the inside of this "third tribe nonsense" - all three tribes explained so well by Grizz - as I have no desire to ever hand over a monthly chunk of money for an empty space and a "promised community to share pipe dreams, and pimp each other out" of which ~~buyers~~ suckers just paid to create...- CREATE - again in case that point is missed.

I find it very telling none of those creators have gone to comment on Grizz's post, there is no way they could NOT know about it and it already has 100 odd comments from others.

After all, they are quick to post on those blogs that their fanboys have.

Anyway, so I haven't ~~seen~~ been duped into paying to see the ~~"inside of the third tribe"~~ empty space.

Should you become a tribal member? ...Asked...a tribal member!

They a sucker too?

Not really, they did it to see for themselves, so, smart for going in and checking it out first before blogging about it...at least they have a real view of what it was...which amounted to sod all!

But I don't care that I didn't also check it out first...mainly because I already guessed it was going to be crap, empty, just promises, and I sure ain't gonna hand over money just to confirm it!

Won't even need to now. :o)

I mean, of course any Internet Marketer (those they slam in tribe 1) will tell you memberships are a good passive income, but I bet they have a big drop out rate on that crap, it's nothing but a "club" and they are hoping enough "fanboys" will ~~join~~ fall for it and build that crap up for them, all the while THE OWNERS make money from YOUR ~~efforts~~ stupidity and naivety in joining an empty place and filling it with the same crap that's all over their blogs, just rehashed and still not working!

After all, that's what they ~~teach~~ bore you with, that's what you'll know and do... all the while paying to do your bit, while losing money, probably!

Membership sites, they work, they're not usually empty though...

But it's a valuable "touch-point" they cry... bah humbug - bugger off with the stupid catchphrases and "buzzwords" they are pathetic and mean nothing.

At least be honest with yourself, it's a big "jerk circle" (as those on that side of the pond keep saying) and if that is what your after, whatever rocks ya boat! (I'll do my own thanks!)

Crazy, that crap is saying an awful lot about them.

But, it's also saying an awful lot about those that join, those who willingly fall for that crap.

The numbers though... I mean let's be really conservative and say they have at this stage 1000 members, (probably alot more suckers by now) and at 47 bucks each, EVERY MONTH... that's a huge sum of money every month for an EMPTY space...with promises.

They ain't daft, they are just banking on you buyers being daft!

It will fill up fast with nonsense, but to sell it when it's empty and banking on those buyers creating and paying for the content is...well, shit.

Easy money for them... what price stupidity?

Third Tribe, more useless crap!

2010-02-05T15:49:00.000Z

Some interesting goings on this last week, with new batch of "cool aid" - as those across the pond say - being sold to daft newbies who either seem to NOT be learning as they are going along or new noobs who are just getting sucked in.

This blogging A-list crowd is getting worse!

I knew it as soon as I saw it in my inbox with the lame pitch and tweeted that it was a joke, before seeing the interesting few post from people who know what they are talking about, who slam the cool aid floggers!

I would never say I know it all and there are plenty of people who know more than me on all this stuff, blogging and internet marketing wise, but even so, if I can spot this crap a mile off I am bemused and saddened many can't and to that end I am glad people are starting to stand up and say "hang on, this is bullshit".... not that I've ever shied away from doing that :o)

Let's face it, those who are falling for this crap who already read the supposed A-listers blogs and other crap they write are either not getting it or they are pure fanboys, no other way to describe it, how can there be if they still don't twig that what they ~~learn?~~ read on the blogs is useless and just going to be reworded for the "tribe" crap or forum or whatever.

Call me stupid, but this crap "join us and we'll be friends, that will make you money, just cos you are "in" with us" ideal is obviously a bit lame, is that what they call a business plan?

Join us, we will make you a cool blogger?! Lame!

Look, I don't dislike Darren, Chris, Brian, Simone... they are all great writers, I just think this third tribe thing is BULLSHIT.

I know some say, you are cynical bugger Rob...thing is I just don't like seeing people getting ripped off!

Being charged to have your hand held and then misled along the way... no thanks.

So much is obvious on the blogs alone.

Darren doesn't do SEO in his words, well I can see that, you can't even anchor link in a way to benefit those (misguided) guest posters, check if you unsure... no doubt due to some of them being wanna-be-famous-like-you guest posters, they don't mind being linked using their names.

Ah well, Darren's take on this third tribe thing, useless nonsense.

Reading one of the best rants about this whole situation, I doubt the writer Grizz would like a useless link, maybe as he knows what he is talking about when it comes to the make money online situation he would prefer this! :o)

Andy Beard also, I have known Andy for years online, read his stuff alot, he shares alot on SEO tips .. maybe Darren and the other cool aid sellers should read his stuff too!

So, these people wanna charge $47 a month!

To hold your hand and tell you "you are cool cos you are with us" all the while reading their rehashed crap and fawning over them.

Just my opinion and I am entitled to it, keep ya money, use it on something else or buy ya loved one something, hold their hand instead!

When they start showing they know what the hell they are talking about, then maybe we start to listen to them, till then... steer clear is my advice, go read Grizz's blog if you want the real nuts and bolts on how it all works.

Change and resonating with readers...

2010-01-28T17:53:00.001Z

I have been busting my nuts over what I should do with this blog, as you already know from a recent previous post I will have to get off FTP and with the benefit of the speed increase the happens after that, I can and will be editing and changing a lot here.

It's needed and I already started! ;o)

Having had a tidy up with my hosting and sorting files, folders out and generally maintaining things, it's all looking better prepared for what I want to do.

As for the blog posting via FTP... at the moment it's a nightmare to deal with, I am looking forward to ending the damn nightmare too!

Anyway... (shrugs)

When I have got off the FTP I can sort things out in a few days of solid action and hopefully, doing that will boost my motivation for it and in turn do better from there on, I might change the template therefore the look of the blog too, why not...a fresh start.

As long as I stick to the blogging rules...

When it comes to blogging, there are no damn rules... not real rules but to me there seems to be plenty of guidelines to what makes a good blog, I read enough of them and as you already know, I think you have to be better reader if you want to be a better writer.

Because when it comes down to it, that's all that really matters, words, writing. But what power words have!
The pen is mightier than the sword, as the saying goes... gotta be careful them words there!

I need to improve the content you read, but also for it to differentiate from all the other gazzilllion blogs and sites out there I have to be different somehow.

I know I need to narrow the focus of the blog, then edit what I can to improve it for that chosen focus, improve content, even on older posts, delete what I can keep that what fits, just generally improve things all round.

But what to focus on?
That's my dilemma, doubt I am the first to have this dilemma and doubt I'll be the last, maybe a better thing to ask is...

How can we write what resonates with the reader in a way that matters?

People always write that following your passions, expertise, and writing around that is the way to go...while I can see why and have said myself that its a good way, but mainly to start out and get you going without letting procrastination stall you, if it's an obscure thing, its a good practising start to move on something better and if it's a reasonable "niched topic" with a good chance to doing well anyway, carry on and ramp it up!

If you read anything you are already in a position to know what pulls the reader in with that topic, giving you some idea of what and how to write what appeals to them, if you can so it makes sense to blog on something you love to write about, but to really resonate with readers you gotta do something special, out of the ordinary, something that gets noticed by those who's attention you want. Zig to everyone else's zag!

But only if it will be worth while, that is it's not just a case of doing it for the sake of it, after all, you put alot of emotional and mental effort into it and you know... it's hard work!

So, you gotta get something out of it too, whatever it is you choose as the reward, benefit.

If something does stand out from what I learned with experience and have seen happen elsewhere (too many times to be a coincidence) is being consistent is probably one of the biggest factors altogether, if you start resonating with the right readers with your content, however it happens, then be consistent with that.

It's no coincidence that this blog doesn't get as many post(s) commented on as a few of my other blogs (why it needs improving), take Portland Bill for example, because the niche topic is specific, targeted and I write about things that resonate with the readers, they read it, comment on it, almost every post... after all, they live(d) or have been here too, I am provoking their own thoughts, experiences and memories with what I write about and share, which encourages them to share theirs too. It helps leaving the ego at the door but allowing others in.

Learning from your own experience, not just what others say is so.

Whatever it is you do, if you stick at it, drop the crap, ramp up what works, learn something all the while and consistently improve no matter how small the margin... you are getting somewhere, no?

It doesn't all have to be pretty and amazing though, it just has to be tried.

You don't have to do one outstanding blog, you could be trying lots of little niche themed ones, seeing what works and building on that or something else entirely... whatever works for you works, be consistent in that.

So many egotistical people with an agenda tell you what you should do, usually it involves buying whatever it is they sell, but they have no idea what you need... don't bother unless you know it will do something for your own benefit and growth, really in most cases, if these people are that good, then you can learn plenty from seeing what they do themselves, rather than from them telling you to buy something.

Not to say everything out there is useless, because that would be wrong but to say, usually, you can learn what you need from doing, rather than listening to and reading, remember, you learn plenty watching what they do, not what they say. ;o)

It's great to learn from others, it's worth listening to what they say, reading what they write but don't take anything as gospel unless you try it yourself...the only proof and results that matters are your own (not illegal and black hat stuff though!) ... don't take my word for things I say on here, if it works for me, it might not for you, same anywhere with anything.

Everyone is a marketer.

I love getting stuck into marketing, marketing is everything in a sense, being passionate about it is great, the experience gained over the years is worth it's weight in gold and every aspect of life is in some way effected by marketing, whether it's from or too you, it's entwined with human behaviour, itself fascinating.

The internet itself has just changed marketing by taking it to a new level, adding a better dimension to it, it's just a new different platform with a better reach and possibility of measured growth.

It's not just businesses, it's everyone, everyone is a marketer...

It's not about "pushing" something onto others etc, it's about making the most out of everything you do, bettering it in any way possible in order to get the most from it, being aware of those on the other side of the screen, whoever that is and bettering what they see, share, use whatever it is you do.

The shift needed is getting from the customer or reader mindset to the marketers mindset, once that shift happens everything changes, overnight with some (me) or a bit longer with others but it happens and as you know mindset is everything too, it's that important, it's a different way of thinking.

Once that shift happens... you realise that you were a marketer all along, just the awareness of it in every part of life has sunk in, be it and when you then look an the internet, it's never the same again!

Everytime you share something, you are marketing someone, everytime you write something (even a facebook status or tweet) you are marketing... even if it's only marketing yourself, intentionally or not, you have the power to build up and pull down, awareness is all you need.

You also realise the power you have if application is made to use it and with your marketer hat on!

You could make change!

Everyday people are making change...

The internet I am starting to think is the idea platform, nothing is better as an idea platform, and the value of the idea is the real currency and people are getting them ideas, thoughts, notions out there, some remarkable, some not, and plenty of middle of the road stuff... where's your stuff fall in that?

I wouldn't profess to saying I could change the world, but I could say my world.

Same as you, but collectively it matters and makes change.

I now realise what I want from doing what I do, to change my world, I don't to be sat on my arse all day writing mediocre and varied stuff anymore in the hope it works out, testing, trying more, I want to write less often but with better impact, shouldn't we all aim for that?

I want to improve the things I use to do this stuff, I want to improve the way this stuff gets out there, improve what it is that works on doing all that and keep doing that.

That's the thing striking me about having a blog and writing, it changes you, it is almost empowering some form of self growth, self awareness, self education, naturally you learn alot doing it and you grow, one post a time.

Not that I am writing about self growth etc, just that it's a part of the process itself and I really do think everyone has something important to share with others, it's just finding that something.

I just realised we have to write stuff that resonates with us first, from this post I see I need to keep making the changes I am making. :o)

I put some effort into this post, that's the thing I have to keep at, make every post worth writing... my reward from you? If you like it, would you share it using the button below? Comment?

So, what about you?

Utilising Internet marketing for local businesses

2010-01-25T23:04:00.001Z

I realise I know more than I think when it comes to this "online malarkey" and thought it's about time I utilised that to help local businesses and traders here on Portland.

Anyone who has blogged for some time or dabbled in Internet marketing in some form or other is way ahead of the masses when it comes to doing the basics online in the right way.

Also you are a long way ahead of offline business owners too, this is one area that internet marketers and good bloggers can help businesses locally to you.

I felt in a position to write about Portland businesses, and change, it's happening anyway...and what I can see of the possible changes and the impacts of it, if possible I'd like to help them anyway I can, one area in that could be to promote their businesses by way of a post or advertisement on the Portland-bill blog itself, giving them not only possible traffic but a decent backlink too, they are the real currency of the web, links.

We want our local businesses to succeed, their success or failure reflects and effects all of the surrounding community, so it's in our interest too.

If you are into internet marketing, or a good blogger with some experience of the way things work online have you considered helping local businesses, paid or otherwise?

I ask because we all know one of the surest ways to make money is to help others make money, as the saying goes... To get more of what you want, help others get what they want.

Businesses only want one thing, more sales, more referrals, more customers... do you think you can help your local businesses with that by utilising your skills online?

I am pretty sure most good internet marketers and bloggers can help in some way, however small, simply because you will likely know when you see any business, or their website what online tactic(s), system would fit into it, remember you are way ahead of the curve online.

The important thing I think is that it's not about their website, it's about the business, no good saying to a business, stick a blog up, or facebook fan page, twitter account, etc... it's first and foremost about the business itself, not changing it, but enhancing it where it matters and where you can.

As any internet marketer or good blogger knows, there are way to many different aspects to online marketing to say what works for any particular business... it wholly depends on the business, each on it's own merits..

That is part of where I am looking to grow, help local businesses implement what aspects (if any) they can which would help them grow and adapt to changes.

Without naming local businesses, I have seen some terribly bad websites, now that's not to say, they are bad for the business as I have no idea of that but as a user of the website it was...well, bad, from that standpoint I felt there was alot which could be improved and make a difference.

I couldn't see how in my opinion those websites were growing their business.

The bottom line was... would I buy from them, or do whatever it was they wanted me to, whatever their "call to action" was? (If any!) In some cases, it's a big no from me..

Some businesses had no website altogether, which due to the nature of the business I thought was very odd, short-sighted.
I hope we can rectify that. :o)

What about you?

If you have being in the trenches so to speak, doing all this stuff, have you checked you local businesses websites and such?
If not, why not consider it and it could be one way of diversifying what you do, even a way to grow what you already do, a way to help you make money online.

Foe me it's time to utilise all that internet marketing and blogging has taught me.;o)

The final hurdle seems to be the hardest too...

2010-01-24T19:19:00.000Z

Just a shortish update on the battle with the baccy, which is still raging, I am annoyed with myself for not yet stopping smoking, this last few weeks have been a nightmare with it, though I have made some progress because I have cut right down, stopped smoking in the home apart from the kitchen, so the place smells better, feels better.

Just need to now stop in the home altogether, meaning other people too, soon as I stop, they do!

But, while I have made progress, it's that last bloody stretch that's driving me nuts.

I don't wanna have to start using alternative methods which while they may work, it's not really for me, there are many different ones, but I don't think it's a good idea to be putting focus on smoking, alternative or not...

I mean, instead or a real ciggy, use a false one...

I don't want to be faking it, really!

Can't see myself being comfortable doing that and even if so, how long do you walk around using that for?

Just gotta stop!!

Not create an alternative to it, replacing bad habits with good ones is fine, what habit really makes a good one to replace ~~smoking the~~ poisoning ourselves with that crap, as in the most likely to get into fast?

Saying, eat fruit, or whatever is fine... but it doesn't stop the baccy craving, or stop you sticking a smoke in ya mouth, which we can seem to do without even realising it...that's a habit alright!

I think I will have to get nicotine patches, at least to stop that craving, the other part, stopping times and situations where I usually smoke, is another awkward one, will have to do it.

I owe it to my kids and myself to stop this shit, and NOW!

So, that's the next thing for me really in the damn battle I will win... nicotine patches...change my situations where I tend to light up, though I have been cutting it right down to the few or even two a day on good ones, it's that last bit I am struggling with.

This week I'd like to stop altogether...let's see if I can do that!

FTP is finished on blogger, the right move, so this blog has to move!

2010-01-23T22:00:00.000Z

Interesting news from blogger and I knew it was coming in some way because it was an obvious move you could see happening, it's been obvious that it's blogspot on which the blogger team are focusing, not that I blame them either.

Not the first time I have said that, so, now there is a deadline to move so, I have to make the move and hopefully it will be simple and straight forward enough, I should done it a while ago when Rick the CEO of the blogger team mentioned it on his twitter to me.

But back then, I was a little wary, and rightly so because fellow blogger using FTP Louis Gray mentioned there were a few hiccups along the way, but it seems his success going from main domain to the subdomain he uses did give me a boost, though I thought I would just wait a little while and see what happens, as wordpress was crossing my mind though I prefer blogger.

Now though, it's do it or move to wordpress, I would rather stay on blogger, so I probably will move it to blog.robsellen. com and benefit from the improvements they have made.

Just from using the blogspot set up on other blogs I know there are some great improvements made and Rick has stated in the blogger buzz post that 2010 promises to see more changes, improvements.

I look forward to seeing them, whatever they may be.

As I understand it, I could keep my hosting, just direct people to the new subdomain where blogger host the blog...Rick has confirmed FTP is going to be ended, Rick is great, he is reachable and no doubt I will get there and as he uses the same set up himself I am sure he will be saying "I told you so!" :o)

So, that's my main task next, get this blog sported out, moved, and then because of the publishing speed improvement over FTP I can set about editing and tidying up the blog.

Hopefully you won't see much change really, but you will see improvements, provided I don't balls it all up!

Blogger sloooowly stalking wordpress, new pages - step in the right direction

2010-01-21T21:54:00.000Z

Blogger in draft has seen more changes added... :o)

Now we also get pages, up to 10 per blog and wordpress no longer has that advantage. Woot!

So I had a little look last night to see what it's like and what possibilities it allows me, I thought about doing it on here but decided on a blogspot hosted blog, it's what blogger want us all using so test on that first, I like to dive in, so I gave it a go on "how to use blogger tips" with just a tester page on "why I started blogger-made-simple".

Looks good in some ways, I can obviously do much more with it but the fact the url of the page is set up like this means good for the keyword theme you aim for, remember it's good to have a blogspot blog for testing anything without worry.

So, it has not got me rethinking my whole blogging strategy, not only one the others I have but also with this blog you are reading, I feel keener to move this to a sub-domain like blog.robsellen . com. while allowing me to keep some hosting in place for other important things, this is stuff that I don't need to explain here.

Just allowing blogger to host the sub-domain itself and the blog content would be good for getting off the dreaded FTP set up... which is getting to be a pain in the arse!
And typing in this current url would just redirect instantly to the sub-domain.. so this blog is still the same, just a new url.

The ftp is so slow, getting off that for that reason alone is worth it, editing and such is so much faster.

Blogger tends to have dropped FTP users to the bottom of the list, targeting the blogspot users and I understand why, don't blame them either.

The fact I could use sub-domains means I can do several blogs on each domain, not that I necessarily will but it available to do while benefiting from the blogspot pros, losing the FTP woes.

So, if you are using blogger, are you using the "draft" version of the editor?

If not, simply go to the bottom of your blogger dashboard page and you will see a link, then after that you see a small blue box near the top of your dashboard with a tick, to make draft the default.
Draft is where the new additions and benefits roll out first.

Blogger is upping the reasons to stick with them, but I hope we will see even more changes soon, the changes have been a long time coming anyway and that was what allowed wordpress to gain the following it did.

I am off to create some pages! :o)

Good, Bad, whatever...speak up I can't hear you...

2010-01-20T18:39:00.000Z

What do you choose to see?

Isn't that the world we live in, one of choices, one of free will to decide for ourselves, what we do and what we believe?

We decide for ourselves ..to a point, the fact society is "moulding people" to "fit in" through various means, schooling, media, morals, peer pressure, all real examples you can relate to.

You know, it's depressing to look at any of the news because that's what they do, dumb em down and spread fear, just how the establishment like it, genuine bad news is understandably reported about, the earthquake recently for example, but on the whole it's all manipulated depressing roof-is-caving-in-crap!

It's nearly all propaganda crap, designed to create a mass fear.

The way things work is now shifting though with more people starting to use real time media to get facts and stories direct without being filtered as such like it is for mainstream and that's also changing the way people are influenced, by what they choose to see, where they choose to look for that information, how it changes they way they think about things, around them and elsewhere in the world.

But...

Where is all the good news?

Good news? ... um, joking or what?

Seriously, why is there not a purely good news channel sharing what is uplifting with the world.

You could say we create that ourselves by choosing what we see online, if you ignore the TV, newspapers and only look at good things, uplifting news, whatever gees you up, inspiring writing, stories that motivate you.

Why put crap and depressing shit into your head in the first place?
Remember you almost never forget anything...you may think you do, but it's there, somewhere.

The internet really is changing the mass of thought out there in the world, collective conscience is changing... the establishment have manipulated that collective conscience for so long and now they are losing that grip.

You could almost compare it to the social change of the 60's... that was a massive collective conscience change too, it changed society as a whole.

Now it's our turn to change society, collectively.

Right in front of you, is a fantastic tool... you can't underestimate what it can do for you, those around you and indeed people all over the world.

Because of it, YOU are the media...

The responsibility of the media falls down all of us now, not the establishment, we collectively have more reach and therefore more power and responsibility with it, we are already unleashing it.

The modern generation take all this for granted and are less influenced by the mainstream than my own and older generations, we had a TV with 4 channels! (can remember it being less than that) and the usual crappy newspapers, telling us what they wanted us to know.

Now there is a massive range of choice, so many channels vying for your attention and the chance to influence they way you think, see things, act and influence others.

Make your time they desperately grasp for worth your while and be picky, picky in what you see and therefore share, but overall as with the old saying, "don't believe all you read" mum was so fond of, it still matters, yet...

That's the real power in your hands, the reach from what you share, the recent "rage against the machine" being No 1 in the UK charts being a great example, another is the more recent "bra colour" viral status campaign on facebook, they were just ideas, "was it possible to do this?" and that is the internet, a field of possibility, or a factory of them.

You never had the opportunity to spread things like that before, nor so fast, use it wisely, you have more influence than you realise, even if it is just a status, or tweet!

Share your voice, loudly, it's unique and valuable.

Consider why you read some books, blogs, profiles, whatever, usually it because of the voice behind it, not the person as such, but what they say and the way they say it, it's their voice (written voice) that usually grabs you, for whatever reason, fun, witty, sarcastic, rude, or just plain old nice and easy reading.

I see some people who write some great status's and tweets and yet they have no other platform like a blog or such which I think is a shame, they could probably build a great blog audience.

You know, you can have as much as 100 readers a day on your blogger blog after a few weeks and yet though 100 is not a massive deal you still have some influence, depends who reads it, shares it, only takes one tweet, blog link, status shared from one of these readers to explode the growth of your audience and again your possible reach to new readers.

You already say and share more than you think... what may be nothing to you could be a huge thing to another...and you'd never even know it.

So, why aren't you sharing it with the world?

The signs are there, eventually you ask...

2010-01-20T00:50:00.000Z

There is alot of people now starting to see the merits of doing "stuff" online, whether they started with a hobby frame of mind, or as a result of following their passion, whatever that may be and it's lead them on a path of questions, possibilities and opportunities.

I have seen some "hobby blogs" and such starting to show signs of the owners realising it for themselves.

It's how alot get started yet there is something, a question, that always draws people like a magnet... the possibility of doing it for a living...IE "can I seriously make money online doing this shit?" (with a sarcastic nod to their pc)

After all, they are already spending a few hours a week writing, or other content (videos etc) and doing all the "stuff" that they need to do, it's just a case of asking what else they could do, try, or maybe look for the perfect "plug-in-and-away-you-go" easy money maker.

The slippery slope beckons...

The downside the shillsters don't tell you about when they sell you their "secrets" and crappy "get rich quick" formulas, that they probably don't even do themselves (they just get rich quick selling the crap) - is the sheer work and boring repetitive crap that needs to be done in order to get anywhere, it can be demoralising, more so when it takes a while to get results in this day and age of "instant gratification" and over-hyped promises.

Sometimes we all get downhearted doing this that and the other, mind numbing shit that needs to be done cos there ain't never been results without work, you know action on something rather then sitting on facebook and twitter all day doing bugger all but natter like many do, or if sensible at times, sharing a real worthy tweet!

But don't you need a system? ...

While it's true you do need to follow a system, you really need to create your own system, not meaning you need to start from scratch either... I came to realise all you do is take what works from different systems, actions, tips, knowledge and adapt them to suit you and to maximise your strengths, whatever they may be...the only way to do that is to actually do, test and improve.

I tell you this, it doesn't get any easier along the way as many would have you believe, each new thing you get past is great but there is always something else to do, to get past, and it continues but it is a journey, not a destination.
Learning is just a part of life, why should it be any different online?

Everything leads to more questions.

It seems it's still getting started that comes across as the hardest part of the journey for many, oddly, I wouldn't say it's as much now as it was, it's hard to make the start in some ways, then once going like everything you wonder why you "fretted" over it and these days it's easier than ever to just do something.

Something's just sound harder than they are, yeah some of it can sound a little daunting, but how will you know till you do?

So while this system would just help you in alot of ways you could just use the most relevant part(s) of it, lets say you research for a topic to write about based around something you can deal with (keywords) then get started immediately writing quality articles based on what you find worth doing, then set up a basic blogger blog to post some of the articles to, while posting a few to the main article directories, always having a "resource box" at the bottom of each article with a link to your blog, these directories then get you traffic and links back to your blog.

Then tell others about your blog too, while tracking the traffic coming in.

Rinse, repeat with new articles, and even start other possible topics on new blogs, and rinse, repeat again.

Simple, no?

But then, no doubt various questions go through your mind now...that's the way it works.

"How long is this gonna take to show me results?"
"Is it even going to work?"

The answers to those questions only you have, and they only way you will find out is to do.

So, how long have you got? No, seriously..

If you are seriously considering all of that, you should also ask yourself this...

"Am I willing to do stuff everyday and commit to it for 6 months with NO expectation of reward, knowing I may screw up many times before even hitting the right spot, where I see a monetary result?"

If so, go for it, if not...don't waste anytime trying, because it ends up very...trying!

If you really have the drive to get started, or have started already but are yet to see the potential to adapt in a way it will benefit you in a monetary kind, then by all means think about it, act on it, if it fits well with you there's nothing stopping you.

In reality, anyone can make money online.

If you really think, "yep, sounds interesting but where to start?

Write down the 5 things you are most passionate about, knowledgeable of.
Write down all your strengths.

Try to find some overlap of the two and start with that, if there is one, you will have a better chance of staying motivated and it won't feel like "boring work" then get researching using the systems information for the right starting point within the overlap, if there is one.

Then write at least 10 well keyworded long good quality articles with solid information for the blog and post them one a day, write 10 short but good teasing 3-400 word articles for the article directories and submit them one a day without forgetting to put a link back to your blog in the resource box at bottom of them (which is why you tease them, you want them coming to your blog for more).

Then share the blog URL with others, in bottom of outgoing emails, on social site profiles you have, just get it "out there" and get the ball rolling, join forums and comment on blogs where you "get involved" with your ideal target market, they will click on your signature link under all your post.

Then write more articles, rinse repeat and do it consistently until you have enough data to decide if it's worthwhile...if so, get monetising by way of adsense, affiliate links, ad-space, whatever works, (yep testing again!) it's why the research part is so important, two or three extra hours researching could save days, weeks in the long run.

If you find something is working, keep at it and then consider how to grow what works, drop what doesn't..(yep more testing... see, it's never ending.)

Don't do or follow what you don't need, just improve whatever it is you do and know works, if you use blogger as said above you could then decide to grab a domain and use it on the blog (so simple to do) as it will pay to do so.

If it doesn't work out, consider just starting again with something else or another angle, no need to delete what you have done if it's costing nothing anyway, IE its a free blog!

Whatever happens, you will have learnt valuable lessons the first time and nothing teaches like experience.

While I like facebook, I am sick of the app spam crap...

2010-01-18T22:58:00.000Z

I like Facebook, it's been a great re-connector for old friends, with the walled garden privacy settings being one of the main reasons for it's growth, which they are now trying to reverse without a care for the users, not surprising to hear 50% of people have ~~accepted~~ been duped with it and left the change to public.

They need it open to the public for the simple fact the search engines will index them, send them more traffic.

Many are still using the private settings, myself included, though I have given that some serious thought recently as it's only there I have set private, elsewhere online it's not the case, but then elsewhere online I am not connected to so many real friends, people I actually know in the "real world" and that makes it different.

I love the fact I can interact with local friends and old friends I haven't seen for years, most of them are set to private too, it's what got them comfortable with facebook in the first place...

But the apps, and fake groups and more crap are driving me nuts!

I have to groan when I keep seeing crap apps, stupid fake groups like "we won't pay to use facebook" which is just laughable! (HINT: facebook CAN'T afford to charge people and risk losing anything up to 350 million users!)

I remove almost all this crap from my profile and I know it will bother some who have posted and then seen me remover it and thought "oops".. now don't worry if that's you, nothing personal in it at all, I just don't want the crap all over my profile, I have seen friends profiles and they are nothing BUT that sort of crap.

But if you have set yours to open, are you comfortable with the fact every tom, dick and harry can see what crap gets posted to your profile?

Does it really reflect on you as a person, some say I should lighten up and chill, but my profile is this way for a reason and I write this so you who say "chill" can get an idea why I do it and why I don't want that crap posted on my profile, why I don't want to join crap fake groups which are "viral" in the way they are named, yet meaningless.

The apps and crap make you look sad, uninteresting in some sense, to some people!
Children's stuff!
Need I say more?

No offence to any person, it's just perception, and my perception is, in all honesty, influenced to a degree by the perception of many, do I really want others seeing that crap on my profile? No!

But... it gets worse, because people blindly click any old shit, they are spreading viruses, trojans and the like, I KNOW this because my PC stopped a trojan yesterday, and I do NOT click any old link, the problem was who's link it was, not that they did it on purpose or anything, just that it's FRIENDS... we tend to put more weight of trust on things relating to the person behind the link.

Natural, but it nearly caught me out.

I have to say I have always had friends contact me on facebook saying this has happened, my pc wont work, or similar, what do I do?

I always help, but why not all help yourselves...

Well, one thing, stop sharing crap, think about what you click a bit more before clicking it.
Use common sense!

Facebook is a haven for that sort of crap, so many users, so much "trust" between friends, so much ease of going viral... it's WHY they target it, and groups are created to simply build a mailing list so they can spam your inbox with CRAP!

The next thing you could do, is when you use an app and it ask you to send invites and such, really think about who you are sending them to, do they really want that whatever app invite?
Will it annoy them?
Does this crappy app really mean anything?

Then you may consider not spamming your friends with it.

Consider what others think, more so if your profile is open, consider what your profile looks like and how it reflects you.

Just a thought... ;o)

Do it right, or they will get you...

2010-01-15T19:35:00.000Z

Love em or loathe them, they are out there, the Grammar Nazis picking away at any misspelt, badly written, grammatically incorrect, wrongly formatted writing they see.

They matter though.
Because they care.
Even if a little to much, at times.

Like I said recently, your writing will never please everyone, depending on the reader and the intended audience, I spoke of intent briefly on writing, but it's intent which on different levels, some we just ignore at the time..

Your intent of the message. (why you write it, will they get it?)
The audience that intent is aimed towards.(who you're writing to)
Assumed intent of non intended readers. (will your next boss see that?!)

I am often wondering, without insulting anyone, if people abandon all common sense sometimes when they write something online, be it a status on a social networking site like facebook, twitter, or a blog post, forum post, whatever.
Perception is important itself, more so when it's so easy to find what people have written online, all indexed here there and everywhere.

No wonder people are catching partners out on social sites and more, bosses are looking up prospective employees, potential partners are searching information about them online.

It matters when it comes to some of the potential audience.

The smart ones are often fishing for the right audience... without it even seeming that way.

It's no coincidence some smart writers have gained work because of it, but you can bet those people also write at least the right way even in status's and tweets, they don't sweat the small stuff so to speak.

You can imagine it, a boss in some niche of sorts, comes across someone on a social site, forum, or similar, liking the style then looking into other writing by them, blogs and websites and similar, thinking "I like this, I could pay that person" ... to write a few post a week, or something like a column a week, whatever.

It happens!

And it's not limited to any niche, topic, passion, business.

Someone with a huge fishing forum and blog getting 20,000 hits a day, everyday, and making £10,000 a month could be reading you, yes you the... "always writing and talking bloody fishing" in your mates, partners, families words... and yet that forum/blog owner thinks... "I like your style, passion, voice, and now I have seen your consistency" and emails you with a great offer!

Why could that not happen to you?

Whatever you do write, wherever it may be, do it consciencely and consistently.

Does posterous have a weakness here?

2010-01-14T20:26:00.000Z

Soon you will see I have posted this very post here to the comments in this SEO post on posterous by the co-creator of posterous, in the actual comments! (IF it works as it did earlier!)

Not something that was meant to be part of the experience, I only found out by complete accident, a slip of the key literally.

Why I am doing this right now, like this, is to highlight it, is it a possible "comment spam" risk? I think so.

I get the irony of me doing it to an SEO post, but then that is what is what's wrong with SEO, it's gaming the system in some way, what I am doing here could be a form of gaming posterous and the search results maybe just to spread the content...which is why I am not exactly saying how I did this here, but it needs looking into.

Maybe they know it's possible to do this, maybe not, we will soon know, how long it could have gone before someone realised and started abusing it no-one will know.

That fact is I have done it here. It is a potential issue.

You know where to find me posterous guys. :o)
No offence but I had to show this to you and thought the best way was to do it.

Be a better reader if you want to be a better writer

2010-01-14T14:40:00.000Z

Your writing is as good as your readers.

I have great readers...

The job or your writing is to be read but it's important to realise you will never please everyone, so never try to please everyone, just write more because those who do like reading your content will come back for more and hopefully tell others, the more readers you get the better your writing must be, right?

If you really want to write, start reading more as well, reading is, as you know, so important in the communication progress and it does matter, I would have struggled to talk without reading lots and in turn writing.

The Internet has created a generation of great writers according to Penelope Trunk, maybe, maybe not too but it's certainly changed the way communication is made, improved in some ways as people are more often connected than not, but it has also got worse with the written word being txt speak a little to often and basic grammar often being ignored altogether.

Maybe it has it's place...um, yeah, phones? ...Twitter?

You could say twitter has the argument of creating brevity with the limited 140 character count, which hints at the reality that twitter was started with phones in mind.

Granted the Internet has unearthed some good and great writers, no doubt they were already good storytellers, communicators, after all that is good writing - great writing. (I'd hope, humbly, that I would fall into the middle of them somewhere!)

I get told I am a good writer, while flattered and pleased it's hard to see in yourself what you do well, without being ego-influenced, but I have also always written, and I am even more of a reader, as I always have been, I mentioned it earlier I had to in order to talk properly and also to keep me from "falling behind" at school as I grew up... It helps!

Nowadays though young people are doing it even more, they are growing up without knowing any different, IMing, txt'ing, twittering, blogging, using facebook, etc etc...also reading more online.

Nevertheless it's hard to escape the fact today's young people are writing and reading at times most in my generation didn't when we were young (pre mobile phones!) that is, usually at school for us and only then...these days the youngsters are online, using iphones or similar.

It matters because its changing alot of society, good and bad, communication on the whole is changing at a rapid rate, let's not forget never before has everyone had the opportunity to share with so many, so easily and at anytime they like, hence there are more people writing overall.

I mean, it's now 3.30AM* I have been writing lots over the evening, not only here, and yet, it's ok, nothing stopping me from doing so, I can still click publish and share it... I could just save it and crash out in bed, get up and carry on...millions of people are doing the same! (*I will "publish" it later today, timing counts!)

That is the beauty of the internet and having the platform to share whatever, it has emboldened people to do so, while not everyone gets great results they do have the same basic opportunity, and they take it.

It just so happens as more and more do so, your writing will have to matter and stand out to rise above the noise and be noticed.

"Ah"... the marketers cry, "but the write it and they come is BS" ... um yes, marketing is fundamental to anything being spread on or offline of course, but if the writing is good, better still, great, then more people will find it anyway, people share good stuff and it only takes one person to start that ball rolling, yourself or someone who shares it the first time.

It's no coincidence Penelope is a good writer and although probably not seeing herself as one but she is a very smart internet marketer too, that combination is always going to get you somewhere.

The underlying thing I have realised (and it's just this way with most things) is intent.

Without intent, it's all pointless. Just words.

A 20 minutes a week holistic health approach

2010-01-12T16:16:00.000Z

As part of my aim to get healthier and rid myself of bad habits, I have over the last few months been looking into what I can do to boost my chances of success.

Knowing my own doubts on my willpower I felt I had to at least utilise this amazing tool we call the internet and see what I could find out for myself, never know until you look.

People talk of "alternative" therapies, medicine and such, not sure why its called alternative, holistic is more the truth, and it's no coincidence ancient approaches were holistic, even Native Americans, Aborigines use a holistic approach.

I remember coming across a great article a few years back, I shared it on a forum I am no longer a member of, it was about our cells, DNA and how we are, in a sense, holographic, that is each cell is a mirror image of our whole.

It was a fascinating article, written by a man and woman who were Russian if I remember right, I has it bookmarked but due to the small fire on my pc a wee while ago, which had to be rebuilt I lost it, damn!

No matter, I will find it again I have no doubt.

Regardless, the information in there struck me and stuck in my head so I was surprised a short while back when I started looking into similar things without realising it or doing so without intent, the path it lead me on was fascinating mentally and spiritually, not only that...the "browser history" in chrome also interested me, the way I went along the right path almost wholly guided by my sub-conscience.

I am glad it happened.

I came across something else that reminded me of it, something that got me thinking about it again and with clarity because I felt it really encompassed all that I had been reading about.

What I started looking at a few months (4 or 5) back, it started because I was at a friends house and a fascinating program came on the TV about quantum physics, mechanics, it was in some ways mind-blowing stuff.

Nevertheless getting to understand it as best I could it opened up some fascinating realms of thought for me over the few days afterwards and it was this that got me thinking about the article I shared on the forum, how this quantum fits on a human cellular level, what could we do with it and learn more about it.

Through the wonder of this tool called the internet and reading whatever the path showed me I learnt way more than I thought I would

It lead on a funny path of mixed things, from the water test with words, through to photons, even stuff regarding 2012 and whatever that may bring.

Like I say, a strange path yet in the end it all made sense, enlightening you could say!

The real answers are in us, or if not, they are externally...in nature.

The notion of the "experts" calling 95% of DNA "junk DNA" is almost an insult, do they really expect us to believe that nature would waste so much DNA?

It's not "junk" just because we don't fully understand it, that's absurd itself.

If anything it's that the lack of understanding that probably scares them.

Anyway, I stumbled on something I have to say is of interest and maybe you could also benefit from it, this is something I did a few months ago and have since set 20 minutes a week to redo, I also approached it with an open mind and no preconceptions other than intent for it to work.

It works on something we have no real control over normally, because it speaks clearly to that part of us we can't speak to with intent.

The message being given to your bodies intelligence, not your intelligence in the sense we know of, what we think for ourselves, but to that of the unseen intelligence your whole body has, something we rarely even acknowledge let alone use.

Taking just 20 mins to get started on reprogramming yourself, your DNA, your conscience, sub-conscience, your cells, cleansing and healing yourself on a quantum level. Quantum physics to heal mind body and soul.

Realigning your original blueprint, in other words.

What do you have to lose by trying it?

My 5 word plan of action for 2010

2010-01-12T13:50:00.000Z

I had a nice email from a friend but it also ended with a question : What's ya plans for the year then Rob?

Well everyone knows the saying... "fail to plan, plan to fail" and yet, more importantly, is writing the damn thing down, you know on real paper, with a real pen, by hand.
Not something that happens much these days, writing for real, sadly... I digress.

The email got me thinking about it more, as I had been battling with myself over it anyway.

In the past a plan may have been made for the year ahead, at this time of the year more so then a short, medium term one, though they are all important as we know, planning goals, resolutions to stick to, that sort of thing, not necessarily business plans, could be a lose weight plan for example.

I had never really been that good at plans, goals, I mean I was unsure, now I know because the reality tells me it's so.

But I needed to make plans, plans on what to regrading blogs etc, how to use the time and what to implement.

I needed to make plans for me too, plans on life.

About time I did something different, mainly because I find plans and such a little difficult to follow at times, or goals seem to big to reach, all leading to frustration and often it can build up into a snowball situation where I fail completely.

Maybe you feel you have done that yourself before, none of us always get things right anyway.

It's ok to fail...at times, depending on what it is, how big it is...for me at the moment it isn't ok.

But as Henry Ford said : Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.

So, I had to consider it to be useless doing it the same old way, something needed changing so I got thinking about how why it fails, and how I could approach it different, what would make the difference?

Some say and I have probably said it, but it obviously didn't work for me well, you should set small attainable goals along the way, taking bite sized chunks of the big picture, but then I though doing x in x days is doing exactly that...and it doesn't work for me.

For ex...

If I was overweight and needed to lose lots of it.. ( thankfully I ~~am perfick~~ don't ;o) ) previously I'd have written "lose x amount by x date, say a year" and possibly more goals with shorter time spans with less loss amount, monthly say and then failing to reach the 1st month goal, getting bothered, then failing the 2nd month...and so on.

See how it can snowball into one big screw up and the end of the year you are no better, or if anything only slightly better than the year before.

Maybe not to that extreme, but you get the gist, easily done that... wouldn't you agree?

So I realised I approached a badly thought out plan in the wrong way, losing half the plan before it's started.

I needed to do something, this just bothered me in some ways and I know you have to make plans of a sort...yet I clearly needed to also do it different than I had before.

Setting an overall plan of action for everything, like all blogs?
Do plans for each?
What about plans for me, personal plans?
And how to plan them if they are to be different in order for me to get it right?

For some reason I kept thinking about "internal and external goals, input and output" without really knowing why I was thinking it, then the words "break it down" came to mind, like a mathematical sum that's using big numbers which needed fractioning.

So maybe that's it, break it down to the smallest aim and underpin everything with that aim.

So, for life goals, personally the main broken down aim this year is to... get healthy

Personally giving up smoking is one of my main health goals, and I am already on my way to succeeding but it will also have other positive benefits and influences on my life, as well as my children.
I am getting more exercise already as I do go out on "walkabouts" often, although there is more I could and should do.
I have changed my diet to a better and healthier balanced one overall, eating more "live" food, after all we are what we eat.

For blogging goals I have simply broken it down to... monetise my words

Each post or other form of writing should be monetised as best as possible, and if at all possible leading to passive streams of perpetual results.
Each blog I write for must have an aim, if it's not to monetise the words, content then at least to increase interaction from the readers, in order to grow the readership and reach.
Each new project should have a monetisation model from the start.

Everytime I now do something I ask myself... "does this fit my aim" so leading me in the right direction?

That means I feel guilty each time I smoke, I am in fact putting myself off smoking more and more.

Each time I write a post I ask myself ... "is there any potential monetisation" in what I am writing.

That means everything I write matters, if it is not worth doing I won't do it.

I have no idea if this will work better for me than previously because I have never done it this way before but it simplified things a great deal for me, lowered the analysis of everything I do.

Have you done things this way before? If so, did it work for you?
If not...
How do you do it?

The meandering path of the Internet marketer and where it's leading me...

2010-01-08T02:46:00.000Z

I have been musing over a few things the last few days, well over the last month you will have seen I have not posted as often as normal yet the traffic still comes in daily, thanks to you for that and welcome...as most of those are new readers.

If you prefer RSS then please do subscribe and thanks.

So, while I had not posted so often here lately I have been doing a few other things which I need to do, badly.

I did delete some blogs a few weeks ago, ones that weren't doing much and refocused on doing better newer ones that had a focus, a market, a chance!

Don't get me wrong this blog you are reading is just a personal blog, nothing I set out to monetise, or any other real plan, maybe that itself was a bad move, but I also have the benefit of not having to conform to any rules, time schedule, something I feel is the downside to writing for a corporate style blog etc... it more of a job then.

But I do have plans to make changes on this blog and pretty soon.

My second main blog (ages ago!) was focused on Internet marketing itself, well, my path with it and it's not something I wanted to carry on with at that time, I felt jaded by all the hype and bullshit after 18 months or so.

And yet...

It is pretty hard to escape the internet marketing mindset, not that bad a thing really as it is part of what you need, you can't just have a bloggers mindset if part of the aim is to at least get some monetisation or similar, it won't work but the label internet marketer as people often perceive it as like an online car salesmen and I think it's a shitty image that's wrong.

People wouldn't say the two google guys are like that and yet, there they are... at the top of that tree.

Labels, who needs em?

Never been keen on them and yet here I am, labelling with crap like social media, which is just bullshit anyway, the internet is social media, much like internet marketer, we are all marketers online...online being the... internet!

The reality is if you tweet a link on twitter, share a link of facebook, write and share a blog, whatever, you are an internet marketer.

Yet, we are using shallow buzzwords, why?

No damn idea, other than it sounds good or the herd is doing it.
There is no social media... the internet is the media, YOU are the media

I digress, funny thing, I hated computers at school... wouldn't touch one for years after school, no interest...but then would you blame me when I left in 88... and the pc's were crap then, compared to any of the ones since 2000 and for work I was carving stone anyway.

The internet changed all that forever for all of us, it is solely the fact you can connect to any and everywhere else in the world that changed it but it was actually internet marketing that grabbed me when I first got online and why was that?

Because I knew that the stone trade was never going to be enough, to make me happy or indeed be a healthy work life, that stone dust and the vibrating tools are a nightmare!

Also, I didn't like the fact Portland is fast disappearing and I am by proxy contributing to that, there isn't enough and it's precious yet it gets slabbed to easy...hardly any carving involved!

The other thing...I would always have to bash a mallet and chisel, getting a wage or even if working for myself it would always be, I need to carve something to sell in order to "get money"...

That means there is no real residual income or opportunities...unless running a company and that is not cheap or easy, not to mention the big boys squeeze you out easily, even if unintended, (who knows?) you can't compete when they own any stone you need.

So, that got me thinking when I first got online and it lead to a funny ride that I am still treading.

This is the time, it matters, the internet in a sense is growing up and we should grow up with it ;o)

That's partly why the recent FTC changes will only clean up the perception of the internet marketer too... the label is bound to remain...silly but labels we do use whether we like it or not.

It will stop all the stupid over-hype-and-car-salesmen like style, you know the ones, "make £40,000 a month with whatever shit product I got" while showing a picture of them posing next to some car or mansion (easy to fake no doubt) and hyping crap on their pages with fake testimonials.

Laid it on thick, only for the buyers to find they bought a pipe dream, or crap software which was useless at best, illegal at worse.

The FTC has saved so many newbies, noobs, whatever you "label" them from being deceived into actually making the over-hypers dream come true... ie, paying for them to get that car, house, with money for nothing but crap!

That fake-it-till-you-make-it crowd are dotted around the internet aplenty... and their time is really up.

Which is good news for the rest of us, I called 2009 the year of newbies, mainly because I felt with the economy as unstable as it was at the time, it made sense with job losses people, (often new people) would start looking for really different alternatives, and where else but the internet will they look?

Now I feel in a way 2010 will be, partly, the year the honest internet marketers will stand out, the ones who deliver on their made promises, while not making false promises and yet they also don't see themselves as internet marketers the way internet marketers currently do.

The term internet marketers has in a sense been hijacked by those who sell to other internet marketers if that makes sense?
It's a cess pool of pals posting each others crap, getting labelled (that again!) Gurus and becoming a name in that small circle, or bubble to be more precise, a bubble that needs popping.

The decent ones will stand out from that bubble, people will not notice the bubble as it slowly deflates and it will deflate.

People will notice these decent internet marketers if only because alot of it will be cleaned up, thanks to the FTC weeding out the hype-at-all-cost-then-underdeliver types.

It makes me wonder, do we need to redefine the term internet marketer?

Or will it just become a common verb like an ebayer?

Thus without the stigma attached due to the over-hype-cos-I-am-desperate-for-sales types.

I mean, if it doesn't stop the stigma, who is going to say "I am an internet marketer" when describing what you do?

It had in a way fired me up again, after all internet marketing is all about results, believe it or not some results give you a buzz, depends on what it is but it can certainly be said, it's a real buzz.

To that end the last few weeks have seen me diving into using what I know better, see I have really done anywhere as well as I felt I should have, nothing to shout about and that itself bothers me now more than ever.

Why? ... Because it's my own fault.

So, to that end while I can understand blogging itself is great, blogging for bloggings sake is not, unless it really is a side hobby or such, even like a diary style thing which was as they started, I don't take the altruistic view of blogging as some do, pure blogging as they say.

To me and it's taken some failures and misses to realise, it is all just a tool, a platform, just as the internet itself is, a tool to get some end result, whatever that maybe.

So it got me thinking alot about it and what I should do, also with a good friends words ringing in my ears, "every word should count to something, if it's monetising them, every word is monetisable" and I am thinking yes, they should be.

Which is why I have been using the system and also putting into practice far more of what I do know than previously, and in the right places because I have gone about it the right way, instead of piss-fart-arsing about, (as my dear mum used to say) IE...not treating it serious enough.

That for me is the biggest change over the last few months, I have started to think about it far more and taking it more seriously, making it matter, which is partly why 2010 does excite me, because if I take it more seriously I can only do much better than previously.

Doing what I should, putting the right effort into it and getting results I want, need.

But it will likely lead to changes that are noticeable by you too, this blog for one will be sorted out, improved, tidied up and possibly re-themed for a new look.

It will also lead to changes on how I use twitter and other places like that.
All in all it's good, the time is now to make things work, they weren't working as well as I would have liked, so change is all that will make a difference.

So, having in some sense started to consider the fact I should make every bit of writing matter, create some result, I now realise this blog itself as part of the obvious "I write it" category should crate a result of some sort, every post, so...

If you thought of anything like trying to do something like internet marketing, you could follow the system yourself and see where it may lead you, you never know you may find something that just hits the spot, the right niche, topic, etc may be all yours to make the most of, once at that point it's just a case of writing something to monetise, getting it online, getting it noticed... ok there is more to it than that, but damn good place to start.

If there is one tip I'd say to anyone, it's be yourself, don't follow others blindly and what you actually act on is what you will learn from the most, don't over-analyse, act fast and fail fast in order to keep progressing and don't let yourself become jaded.

Time to take this seriously and sticking my marketing hat on tight while doing what it entails, that is shown above ;o)

Monetary Disclaimer: The links above are 100% to me, IE. you buy, I get the money, BUT then... you also get the opportunity to share these and get 100% too. Use them right and it pay's for itself, right? :o)

It will never catch on...

2010-01-06T14:27:00.000Z

Over the last 7 or 8 years since getting online there has been some massive changes everywhere, things evolve at a rapid rate unlike anything we have seen before, which makes me think these "predictions" people have posted are really shooting in the dark.

Hence I don't think I'll be even trying to predict anything!

The biggest thing for me over the last ten years is the way the media as a whole has changed, the power of breaking news is in the hands of the people instead of the big news corps, we saw it clearly with twitter and Iran, twitter and Mumbai.

Don't think the establishment and the big news corps like that much! :o)

Not a prediction but that's only going to continue, more power into more hands with the rapid rise of mobile technology...remember they said mobile phones would never catch on!

We are the proles! (1984)

Happy new year to one and all, and a happy 80th birthday to my nan

2009-12-31T19:03:00.001Z

Happy new year...

to all my readers, family, friends and strangers!

Hoping 2010 (twenty ten) is a great year for you all, remembering also those lost in 2009.

Happy new decade!

So what a decade that was, the relentless speed and growth of technology in our lives has made the "00's" and astonishing decade, a decade that changed so much, a decade that also gave a voice to everyone, a voice that will be heard.

Most of the real change in my lifetime has come in the last decade, as a 70's child (71) who started with a black and white tv, then when we could a colour, along came the artari game console and started the whole ride off.

Look at them now, and tv's too, which are no fatter than the war and peace book!

It really does seem astonishing what the last decade has given us in terms of technology changes.

Today's youngsters are so unaware of the impact, seeing as they are growing up with it all around them, they would find it hard to image the world without mobile phones!

What does the next decade have in store for us?

Whatever it is, we would be guessing wrong whatever we guessed, no doubt!

Exciting times ahead in that respect.

Last but NOT least...

Happy 80th birthday to my fantastic nan.

One in a million, no doubt about that, hoping nan is having a great time in the USA for her birthday and new year.

Love you always nan. x

Merry Christmas to one and all.

2009-12-25T06:56:00.000Z

Hoping everyone has a great day, time with loved ones, friends, time to be cherished.

The very best of luck in everything you do throughout 2010.

Facebook screwed up, what they SHOULD have done...

2009-12-16T16:37:00.000Z

I've been a bit off with a cold the last week or so, although having stayed in the loop I think it's been an interesting week or so with several things happening that caught my eye, mainly though was the stupid changes with privacy on Facebook, we should all call it faceache, that's certainly what it gives us.

No doubt millions of eyebrows went up when they realised what had happened.

I wasn't going to post about it, mainly because I shared several good links on my own facebook page for others to read, some missed it though, and some readers on here don't see my facebook page.

Then I realised I already shared what they should have done, they already had/have the right solution... they ignore what's right under their noses, I'll explain that in a minute...

On the week where that nasty scum who abused kids in a nursery then sent pics to perverts met VIA facebook I found this move very very distasteful, in fact facebook LOST trust, that trust they built up over the last few years dropped overnight.

Jason Calacanis asked a pretty strightfowrd question with... Is Facebook being unethical, clueless or unlucky?

Before you go rushing to read that, my thoughts...

I think I tend to fall into the unethical argument, I felt it was a very sly move dressed with spin, IE they say one thing while it's actually the opposite, they say it was to give more control over privacy yet they changed it without saying so, if you think the pop up box give us a say... you will find it was already changed, they are banking on ignorance.

If it was two days between your last signing in and getting that pop up box it means your profile and it's contents were available to the search engines for those two days, enough for it all to be indexed!

In real terms facebook has been built on privacy, sharing with chosen people, family, friends co workers etc.

Most of the users are parents, family members, aunts, uncles, etc and don't mix much with "everyone" online.

Facebook's betrayal of your trust is immense... and they did it to several hundred million people!

It's like you invite your family, friends round to your home, then share your latest holiday snaps with them, after they leave and you go to bed, facebook come into your home and took the photo album outside and put it onto a magazine rack outside your front door, that's the sight which greets you in the morning when you go to get your pint of milk from the doorstep!

A bunch of strangers and a possible pervert stood there rifling through your photos!

How would that make anyone feel?

As someone said.. they are the foxes guarding the hens!

They are indeed preying on peoples ignorance, how many of the 350 million people got confused and did nothing about it?
How many of them millions don't even realised what's been done?

Even if it was only a paltry 5%, that's a HUGE number of people.

So, why did they do all this really?

Traffic, and money, NO other reason, they wanted profiles to be indexed by search engines which would create traffic, traffic they would like to monetise because they are useless at monetising in reality, how can anyone with 350 million users struggle to monetise it??

They have had crappy apps do better at monetising then them on their own site!

Yet, it's a dilemma, they created a closed walled garden which was the main reason for that huge growth in the first place, now they realise it is also a hindrance to their own monetisation plans, so they tried to slyly trick us into it think it wouldn't kick up a stink, daft move!

So, what should they have done?

Lets look at this from their point for a second, they wanted this purely so they could expand their reach using search engines and also as a way to battle twitter, which is in my view could have happened IF they got it right.

The already have the twitter rival in Lite.

Let me explain, when I first saw lite, my immediate reaction was to think, "wow, well, if they let us have both lite and normal facebook, yet seperate them completely they could probably dent twitter in a huge way".

Not only that, a rival with an already bigger userbase than twitter! 350 million!

At the moment, every facebook user has a lite version, there is an option to make lite default but it's just that, a smaller neater version of the facebook we already use.

What's stopping them from keeping lite as a standalone platform with slight differences than the normal facebook set up?

Nothing! Less excuse now when they already have the great friendfeed team on board who know a thing or two about all this stuff. It's all in place already!

Here's how I would set it up...

Don't copy twitter, beat them at their own game.

Keep the main facebook is it is, have the settings so we do have complete privacy control and we decide in total what gets shared and with whom, keep the friend limit as it is or lower, 5000 is too many anyway IMO.

Have lite set up with no friend limit and have it default as open, but let people have the option to deactivate it completely, if they don't want to use lite, let them choose to not use it.

Have the option to import all friends on your main facebook who use lite into your lite friend list, have the option to use the lists feature like we can on the main facebook and the option to have one list set to private... this could be the friends from your main facebook set up.

Have the option to cross post from lite to the main facebook but not the other way round.

Make lite work in real time like friendfeed does, use facebooks own fb.url shortner on lite and give us the metrics to use and work with so we can improve our lite experience as we go along.

Make lite a great addition to facebook not a small alternative.

That's what I would do. What do you think?

P.s If facebook use this, a beer or two would be nice as a thanks Mr Zuckerburg!

Blogger made simple...for the new user

2009-12-03T16:26:00.000Z

Ack.. this giving up smoking is not easy, (see last post) one thing I have to do as well as break old habits where smoking is involved is to stay busy, taking my mind off the craving is hard but has to be done.

I have had a few emails lately asking some questions I thought I'd take a chance to answer one or two here...

One of the questions I've been asked a few times is "how do I set up a blog, in simple terms" ... meaning in plain English, the one thing these people say is "what's WP, what's FTP, and where does my blog go?"

This is familiar to me, had the same thoughts years ago and know how it can all seem so confusing and techy.

One reason I suggest new bloggers start with blogger, which is far more basic and simpler to learn with than WP (wordpress), I don't care what others say about WP, there seems to be this elitist attitude with WP users and they seem to forget that WP is NOT easy to use for the completely new user. (I have had WP users say they like this WP blog...not realising it's a blogger blog! Says it all.)

I mention this to people and they say, "can you set it up and do it for me" .. for free?!

No, I can't, that doesn't put food on my plate, I don't even have time to do that for everyone even if I wanted to but I will happily help you learn it and get started, because you all know as well as I do, there is no way better to learn something than to actually go ahead and DO.

I know, if I had set it up, started it all for them, in a few days there would be other stuff they would want me doing... that is not a way to learn.

To that end I started blogger made simple for the benefit of the wannabe bloggers who had asked how to go about starting a blog for themselves, though when it comes to actually doing a blog it seems they weren't that keen, it felt like I had wasted time doing it but I know that's not strictly true as there are a few friends who have said "thanks, that helps" and they have started a blog.

Those who started are the ones who get more help, everyone helps those who help themselves.

Lets face it, the only real "work" you do is generating content, writing the post themselves, setting the blog up is done once, then it's all down to you adding content, be it writing, videos, podcast, whatever method or mix of methods you choose.

The thing to remember is once you have set one blog up, it gets easy to set up another, once you have learnt the basics you can go ahead and try WP if you feel blogger is lacking, which it does in some ways, but WP is also lacking in some ways. Half a dozen of one and 6 of the other as they say.

"But I can't write" is the next thing I hear...

Look, anyone can write, we all have a different level of writing skill but practice makes perfect as they say, it's not that they can't write, it's that they are making excuses or creating barriers before even trying.

If you really need to learn a bit of how to write well enough for a blog then grab this writing report and it WILL help you, and it's not a 3 or 4 page crappy report, more like 40, 50 pages of solid content and tips by who I would say is a great writer...put it this way he writes one of two newsletters I ALWAYS read.

That report is very low price for what you are getting, in fact in the interest of disclosure, I get the money if you buy that and that is also helping me, what's more, you can also sell that to others using your own link and get paid all the money too... the writer is more interested in building a relationship with you, via his newsletter which I always read, as I said, and am sure you will enjoy it too.

Again, if you are keen to start a blog for whatever reason, a personal one, hobby one, work one, whatever, you can follow the blogger made simple and as it's cost nothing to do, you could grab that writing report to help you get started creating decent content.

Up in smoke, changing the habit of a lifetime

2009-12-01T14:49:00.003Z

Well as you can see I have been a little absent here lately, for good reason though I may add, felt as though I was in a free fall and was unsure what would catch me, thankfully my youngest son comes to the rescue in more ways then one.

Several weeks ago, about the time of the last post here my youngest brought home something from school, then brought it here for me, something that got me thinking and taking action.

Smoking... and giving it up!

One of the main reasons I have done little recently is the fact I needed to break my habit of smoking while at my pc and forming a short habit (on way to stopping obviously) of smoking in one room in the home only, namely the kitchen.

As a non drinker smoking has always been my one and only vice, one I am determined to stop for good, I know from past attempts it's going to be really hard to do and I accept that, that is the challenge I face.

Gradually I have cut down a huge deal over the last 3 weeks to a month and I already feel a bit better for it.

The main thing that rives me is not just the fact I don't wont my sons losing a dad early, but the fact my sons support me in giving up, that support is the main motivator which has surprised me somewhat.

I do of course want to see my sons have kids and for that to happen it's important I take this shit seriously and give up.

Breaking my usual habits, where and when I do smoke is going to be the main thing to keep plugging away at.

I am on my way to being an ex smoker!

But that's not all which has changed, I've also took the opportunity to take a step back and evaluate where my life is heading and where I want it to be heading.

Detaching myself from all this "stuff" I do and looking at it objectively it really opened my eyes.

I have learnt alot about myself these last few weeks.

On the whole, I am now aiming where I want to be aiming and not where I thought I wanted to be aiming...

Nothing is set in concrete in life, we have way more power of control than we probably realise.

To that end the biggest issue I have been dealing with is my mindset, we are who we are because of what goes into our minds, yet we are the ones who decide what goes into that space between our ears.

That for me means cutting out the negative crap, the news for example, who I interact with, online and offline, after all it's all influence.

The big lesson for me is the sheer ease of how things, people can influence moods.
I don't wanna be pissed off, annoyed, snappy, so I have cut off what was making me that way, with the giving up smoking it's vital I keep control of my moods.

With that in mind I have been ruthless in cutting off certain people, (although they are friends) on places like facebook, people I have known most of my life and people I have no issues with other than they way I react to what they say or do... I had to do it.

A few were annoyed with me and said as much, that's ok, I respect that but I am not going to allow it to bother me anymore, one or two berated me for cutting them off, which I found a little odd, as if they had this sense of "entitlement" and I must be friends with them.

As I said before, no offence to them, I have my own life and issue to deal with and this is part of that!

The ones who matter are my sons, they are the ONLY people with this "entitlement" as far as it goes with me.

If that bothers some people, tough.

So, while I have now got a real grip on smoking on one room, having broken the worse habits I have regarding smoking I feel I can get back into the swing of things online but with much better focus and intent.

In other words, not wasting time on the wrong places, building content where it matters, moving in the direction I now know I should in order to make things better overall.

Life IS short... to short to be wasting it on meaningless crap and wasting what precious time we do have.

Did I miss anything?

Make money online being focused...

2009-11-06T21:27:00.000Z

Unsurprisingly...you never really know what's on the horizon in life and that itself makes life interesting, if we always knew it would be boring for sure and that's where you get set in a "rut" as they say.

We have all been there, seemingly nothing changes and everyday it's the same old same old and yet, most of the time, we aren't even looking at the damn path, let alone taking control of the point we are blindly heading for, sometime we are indeed lead down the path by circumstances, not always but often it's us that create the circumstances.

Snapping out of it is not always so easy but you have to and the only solution is to...

Stop ourselves, recognise it for what it is, accept it then take charge and change it, we already know a few degrees change now leads to a big difference at the horizon.

I had to be inadvertently reminded of this myself recently, I'm thankful for it too because it will help me short and long term.

This is why I have been quieter of late on the site's I am usually seen on... like the social sites I frequent, ironically having looked forward to google wave for a while I got the invite to try it out just the last couple of days and that's for another post altoghter, first impressions are not so great as I'd expected but then that could also be down this recent "kick in the arse" or change of mindset to be more precise more than anything.

I have mentioned before about the choice between either make money online or being more social, until you can blend the two in some way it's going to have to be balanced in favour of what works for me now, what is more important.

I am reminded of the why I started this whole internet marketing thing off for myself, what grabbed me in the first place and what it can be, do, yet with the experience of what I have and what I know from doing and learning over the years I still get hit by fluff and crap out there although the difference is I know it's crap or fluff really.

I do underestimate what I already know and can do, then again don't we all?

Yet I still struggle at things and I know for a fact I am not the only one, not that special! meh!

To that end there is the one underlying important aspect to keep reminding myself, it's not that anyone wants to make money online for the sake of it but what that money can do for them, (a holiday for instance is not free lol) the lifestyle it could lead to, the being in control, knowing that any result is down to yourself.

What other business is better if this is done right?

What other business can you start up for as low as free and pack into a bag?!

Meaning that's a business in the cloud so to speak, you can be anywhere, anytime and do what's needed and benefit, you know, chasing the dream.

Is that not what every internet marketer and many bloggers want?

Of course, people scoff too yet you look at the shakers and movers on the young rich list and you see internet business owners, tells you something really.

The one thing that has to be put in is time, that's the one thing people won't put in yet they still want the results...we have all seen this mentality.

This same stuff apply's anywhere, online, offline, any business, so we wonder why do people waste so much time trying to do this make money online stuff but the reality is that time is wasted on the wrong stuff and often fed to them as advice from the wrong people, people who ain't got a clue or people who don't give a stuff about where you end up, (as long as you bought their crap).

OR We waste our time on shit we shouldn't!

I always stuck to the belief if you don't put time in yourself to learn what's needed then you can never be 100% sure of anything anyone else said as you can only go by what you know, what data you have, what your experience showed you.

The only other way is to get others doing it for you and that is where you need money off the bat for, you are paying out before anything can come back.

The truth is, anyone wants the rewards is gonna have to roll their sleeves up and do something, do something that has focus.

That is where I am going, focused on things that are incrementally building to one goal and that goal is mine to shoot for.

Focus... THAT is what people need to do, what I need to do, if you could focus on 1 thing for 15 minutes you would be ahead of the majority...didn't Einstein or someone say as much?

If anyone is to be serious about anything they have to focus on it.

It doesn't have to be only make money online issue, what about your work, love life, any area where you want better results.

So what are YOU focused on?

Guy Fawkes, top man....

2009-11-05T01:09:00.003Z

Guy Fawkes, are we not misunderstood with this man?
Having been vilified every year on bonfires all over the country for the powder plot and each generation keeping up these traditions half blindly, even sharing the moment with our kids as a celebration but never really saying why or even if they agree with it.

Have you with your kids?

Knowing what we know about those who work in that same building and what they have done to the country and indeed also having an influence on worldwide politics in some way or other, what they have done to the people, their values and what it meant to be British.

Have these people betrayed our past generations who fought, died and lived after losing loved ones to keep Britain from the clutches of outside rule?

Knowing what a shower of traitors who work in that building don't you feel Guy was onto something?

Have those people and they are a "type" (always the higher class, ie snobs) really changed much from Guy's time?

Did he know something we don't?

Or have we chosen not to see it?

Turn a blind eye?

If you are going to burn a guy on the bonfire try and stick this mask on top of it...he sold us down the river with the EU, if you can't find his mask, Blair's will do, same agenda from both, same lack of respect for the people of the UK.

The last person to leave the UK...will you please turn out the lights!