#18 Power Tools

In addtion to Ping.fm --which I used daily--to post to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace simultaneously I use the following tools. These tools were gleaned from AN Jay

These are the tools that I use. More can be found here:

Mr. Tweet Not Currently Using

I found this useful when I challenged myself to go from 300 something subscribers to 500 subscribers. It helped me see lots of people, their stats and theri bio all at once and to follow whomever I chose to. I followed lots of people and those that didn't follow back I un-followed a few days later.

TweetStats Interesting But not Currently Using

TweetStats can graph your Twitter Stats including Tweets per hour, Tweets per month, Tweet timeline, Reply statistics.

Twuffer Set Up with 2 Affliate Links each tweeted once a month

You can pre-schedule hourly/daily/monthly tweets. I have just started used this with the affiliate links below. I think it will be worthwhile to tweet affiliate links once a month. More often would bug ME so I want to follow the golden rule here...treat others the way I'd wish to be treated.

http://twurl.nl/sg2z12 SEO Handbook (maybe the best)

http://twurl.nl/v18n8d Super Affiliate Handbook (classic/updated/basic)

TweetLater THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE; set it and forget it.

This is what I use to send automatic thank you notes to new followers. In that thank you note I include a link to myself on facebook. I could also include other links to other things I am promoting...like a particular blog post or affiliate product or whatever. I ALSO used this service to follow people who follow me, automatically. This service works really well.

Because of my regular Twitter activity, my one time participation in "follow friday" and my bio of keywords about me I find that people are finding & following me and so my reciprocal list of following/followers is steadily increasing without my interference at all. I'd say somewhere between the 300's and 500's things just took off. The "follow friday" that I participated in really seemed to catapult me well beyond my goal for the month.

My Tweeple Not Currently Using

You can easily see who are you following and who’s following you. You can follow, unfollow, and/or block people with ease. I've used this a few times but since now reciprocity has been automated with "TweetLater" I don't really need it.

Tweetburner I use this everyday

This is how I shorten URLs for Twitter and anywhere else space is limited. This service will also let me know how many times the new tiny url gets clicked. That way I know wat copy is working and what isn't. Oh, and I can tweet directly from tweetburner, adding whatever verbiage I want to accompany the tiny URL.

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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#17 Populate the Pillars

~Twitter~
For every key word in your profile do a people search and "follow" everyone who has a profile that is appealing to you (or at least not offensive to you or blank or silly). You may in this way begin to follow hundreds of people. Also for topic of interest search the conversations by using the search box on your home page. Add people whose conversation you like on topics of interest to you. So with Twitter, initially you should follow 100 to 200 people. After a week or so use My Tweeple, a twitter tool to eliminate all of the people you are following who did not reciprocate.

Set an automatic thank-you-and-cull at TweetLater. This wilL gradUally increase your Twitter following as others find you.

If you feel alright about it...invite your email address book to join you on Twitter.


~YouTube~
You really need original content. Othewise, what are people subscribing to, an empty channel? Maybe they can subscribe to your favorites or to yor playists. I have one subscriber and have uploaded no videos.

If you feel alright about it...invite your email address book to join you on YouTube

Send invitations to people that turn up as a result of your search on YouTube. Search based on your interests.

~NINGForum~
I belong to 5 NING forums and betwxt them all it would be great to have a total of 500 contacts ("friends")

Befriend the newbies. Befriend everyone who write blog posts. Or simply befriend everyone up to 100 people (that is the limit) and as invitations are accepted invite more. Some people are not active and for those who are otherwise ignoring your invitation,withdraw it, especially if is a forum with a high membership.

You have a limit of 100 unanswered invitations.

If you feel alright about it...invite your email address book to join you on NING.

Send friend requests to people who are active in the forum. People who have joined groups, made blog posts, done something to thier NING page that makes it stand out in some whay from the default look.

Getting friends on NING is time consuming.

~MySpace~
If you feel alright about it...invite your email address book to join you on MySpace

Send invitations to people that turn up as a result of your search on Myspace. Search based on your interests

~Facebook~
If you feel alright about it...invite your email address book to join you on Facebook

Also search school and geography and employer networks to find people that you already know.

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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Finding the Perfect Domain Name

A domain name is that part of the URL that comes before the .com, .net, .org, .fm, etc. extension. For example, in http://yahoo.com, "yahoo" is the domain name.

A domain name that is short and memorable is preferable to one that is long and hard to remember. Also a domain name that denotes what a website is about and/or is keyword rich has several advantages.

1. It is easy to remember
2. It let's people know immediately what is about.
3. It actually may be ued spontaneously by people employing search engine or by simply typing advertising.com in the browser.

To have something that is keyword rich and short and snappy is quite a feat. Nowadays companies often simply use their business name and/or make up a word. (e.g. skype, gotomeeting, dimdim, amazon, etc.)

One of the easiest ways to find out if a particular domain name is available is to pop over to GoDaddy. What I like about that site is that if what you select is not available about a dozen other, similar names, are suggested.

Plus once you find something that works and that is available you can go ahead and register it immediately and then use it later to point to your website The service is inexpensive and if you choose to register the domain for multiple years all at once it is very cost effective.

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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Time Management

Definition, Elimination, Automation, Freedom...Focus on the target and anything that doesn't aid and abet reaching it needs to be jettisoned. Yep.

During this April Challenge managing time has been one of the most daunting challenge. I bet there were days when you spent hours getting that days task done. I know that for me jumping onto Twitter or Facebook was a lot more fun than writing product reviews and it wasn't until I just focused on my list of things to do and when methodically from top to bottom that I was able to actually not spend all day working!

Two of my favorite books on time management: Dan Kennedy's No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs (No B.S. Series) and Tom Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich have become classics. If you haven't already read them I encourage you to do so. You can probably check them out of your local library or perhaps find torrents of the entire books online. Of course there is always Amazon.

Take a look at a few of the latest offerings on time management.




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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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Rosalind Gardener's Super Affiliate Handbook

This is the amazing true story of how a woman with NO business experience became a Super Affiliate earning $500,000+ per year selling other people's stuff online

Do check this woman out! She deserves her lengendary reputation as an industry leader and teacher in the affiliate marketing arena. Her Super Affiliate Handbook, which is updated periodically, is a must for anyone aspiring to earn significant income through affiliate marketing.


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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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#16 Product Posts

Create 5 posts for future publication for THIS blog. Each post will focus on review of a single product

• Amazon
• Go Daddy (For Domains)
• Magnetic Sponsoring (or Black Belt Recruiting or Building on a Budget )
  
• SEO Handbook
• Super Affiliate Handbook

You probably have already become an affiliate of the above products or vendors. If not do so now. Make sure to include these affiliate links in your sidebar under "Resources."

For Amazon you might do a book review or another specific product review and include a link to that product in your article. Anything that is purchased through that link will earn you a commission.

To join Affiliate Programs:
"Associates" at Amazon: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/


I will link here to my 6 posts.

• Time Management
  
• Go Daddy (For Domains) Branding
  
• Magnetic Sponsoring (or Black Belt Recruiting or Building on a Budget )
  
• SEO Handbook How to Increase Your Chance of Being on Page 1!
  
• Super Affiliate Handbook Affiliate Marketing: The Basics & Beyond
  

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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#15 Integrate Affiliate Links into Post Copy

Integrate as appropriate no more than one affiliate text link per post. At this point your ave 15 blog posts on your main blog and 25 posts on each of your two topic blogs.



MORE TO COME...

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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#14 Affiliate Brokers

Found in the right sidebar of http://affiliatemarketernetwork.ning.com/
When looking for an online affiliate program, you may be tempted to join only the highest-paying affiliate programs. But there ARE other factors besides commission that come into play when choosing the affiliate program that's going to result in the highest profits!

Let's take a look at some of the top questions you need to ask yourself BEFORE you commit to one of the Web's top-paying affiliate programs:

Is the product or service something you would personally use? It doesn't matter how large a commission is if the product isn't going to inspire any sales!

You'll also be able to sell your product more effectively if you really believe in it. And your customers will come to believe in YOU -- and your future recommendations.

Is the product relevant to the theme of your site? The most successful websites feature only one or two complementary products. Sites filled with a hodgepodge of unrelated items are extremely difficult to market! (They also come off as small-time and unprofessional.)

Does their website convert visitors into sales? Even a great product can't make up for a bad sales process. Don't waste your time and energy sending people to a site where they're not likely to buy anything once they get there!

Do a quick site assessment. Do they have compelling salescopy that makes YOU want to buy? Does their site look professional? Do they have an opt-in form and customer testimonials? If the answer is "yes" to all, chances are their visitor-to-sale ratio is decent.

Do they have a tracking system that will credit you for EVERY sale? You'll want to look for programs that have "cookies" -- or small files encoded with your affiliate ID -- that are set to last for a year or more.

The files are automatically downloaded by your site visitors, so that even if they don't buy an affiliate product right away, you'll still get credited for the referral when they do.

Do they offer tools and resources for promoting their products? Good affiliate programs will supply you with promotional tools like banner and text ads, email promotions, and even informative articles. The amount of money you can generate depends on how well you're able to promote your products!
All of these factors are ultimately going to affect the amount of money you can make with a particular affiliate program. Just remember, the top-paying affiliate programs are not always the ones that will generate the most bang-for-buck.



* Autoresponder/Email Campaigns (Aweber)
* Go Daddy (For Domains)
* Magnetic Sponsoring
* SEO Handbook
* Super Affiliate Handbook
* Amazon
* Shareasale
* ClickBank
* Linkshare
* Commission Junction

Remember to put your affiliate link in the sidebar of this blog under "Resource Tools."
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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#13 Tap Your Knowledge Base & Experience

Today we are going to create 5 posts for each of our topic blogs. The content of each post will come from your personal knowledge or experience. You can add pictures, videos, links, whatever you want for color and interest.

Adjust the publication date on each post using "Post Options" found just below the text box where you pasted the article. You will want one post to publish every Thursday, for example. starting once this challenge is scheduled to end.

What we have now done is created a 4 week buffer! In the future you will continue to write. Perhaps you will choose to publish 5 days a week, just 3 or only once. What is important is consistency of frequency.

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NiaNia
Facebook: http://profile.to/niamaat
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLATCY
MySpace: http://myspace.com/251802274
NING Forums: http://ning.com/niania
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/1nia/
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