SiteSell: The Blog

Get "LinkedIn"!: SBI! Xpress #261

Zine Mailings

Site Build It! Xpress ("SBIX") is for SBI! customers only (click here for SBIX #261 and recent issues). It boils down the near-infinite Net marketing and e-business noise into "only what you really need to know."

This week, SBIX News announces a LinkedIn-SBI! promotional vehicle for you, and three new "Popularity/Traffic" queries at Search It!, plus an additional search for "forums" (Inbound Link Opportunities category).

The Articles section covers how to get major media coverage, excellent outsourcing advice/tips, and simple monetization lessons to guide you along the "M" pathway.

Finally, Pearls From The SBI! Forums features the following...

• Overwhelmed?
• Have you heard about HARO?
• Who cares anymore about these forums?
• It's My Disneyland
• Google Want to Use my Case Study!!!

Click here to read the three most recent issues of the SBI! Xpress. (SBI! owners only.)

To Knol or Knot To Knol... Who Knows?

Ken's Blog

What's Knol's future? Will non-marketers share what's in their heads or will Knol merely become competition for Wikipedia and article-submission sites (ex., squidoo.com and ezinearticles.com)? Another question...

Since you can earn income by placing AdSense ads on your knols, will authors choose more high-CPC-paying topics? There will certainly be an over-saturation on high-payout topics. Also, the entire "feeling" changes -- people contribute to Wikipedia out of a sense of mission, not commercialization. In short...

It's hard to predict whether Knol will succeed. Google has had failures and underperformers (ex., Google Answers, Base and Orkut). If they do not market this to "regular non-marketers," it's possible that Knol may become simply another article submission site for Web marketers, with a Web 2.0 twist. And those individuals may be quite happy with what they currently use.

On the other hand, this is Google. Creating a quality knol in your area of expertise (i.e., your Site Concept or a sub-theme of that) may turn out to be a strong way to improve your credibility in your niche, while also gaining one or more valuable inbound links.

The road to best results, assuming Google has the technology to truly figure out quality (a reasonable assumption) is the following...

Careful When Full-Blogging... It Takes Work

Ken's Blog

While away in Anguilla, I missed a bombshell.  Jason Calcanis, one of my favorite bloggers, has given up blogging. He wants a more direct connection with a small number of e-mail subscribers.

Reading between the lines of his original post and his e-mailed comments later, it seems to me that he just got tired of blogging.  Blogging is hard work.  Some quotes from his announcement and his first post-announcement e-mail...

The Place of Value Exchanging Within an Inbound Links Program

Ken's Blog

In my previous blog, I started a discussion about inbound links and the importance of "keeping it real."  Today's entry continues along that same vein of thought, with a specific focus on "Value Exchanging."

Value Exchanging, as opposed to link exchanging, remains a valuable part of building an overall inbound links program.  There are many folks, including sophisticated Web marketers, who don't seem to understand the value of a diversified program, including the judicious use of exchanging value for value.

Let's talk a bit about inbound links and the place of Value Exchanging within your program...

Free Book Build It!... No Fuss, No Muss!:5 Pillar Affiliate Report #328

Zine Mailings

The 5 Pillar Affiliate Report is for SiteSell.com affiliates only (click here for 5 Pillar Report #328). This e-zine, together with the Quick Start Guide, the 5 Pillar Marketing Guide, and the SiteSell Promotion Center, forms the backbone of the #1 affiliate program in the world.

This week, 5P News announces Free Book Build It! updated.

The Articles discuss Powerful, Practical PREselling and putting your own touch on your "About SBI!" page.

Pearls From The Affiliate and SBI! Forums features the following...

• Margit Makes Great PREselling Even Better
• Don't Forget About Locking In Your Prospects

Click here to read this issue of the 5P Affiliate Report. (Affiliates only. Not an affiliate? Register today.)

Google Knol, UYOH Video: SBI! Xpress #260

Zine Mailings

Site Build It! Xpress ("SBIX") is for SBI! customers only (click here for SBIX #260 and recent issues). It boils down the near-infinite Net marketing and e-business noise into "only what you really need to know."

This week, SBIX News announces a week's worth of releases, including the Upload Your Own HTML mini-video guide, and the launch of Google Knol.

The Articles section covers how to use Google Keywords External Tool's Search Volume data, a tutorial about "blidgets," and an overview of Google's new article submission/encyclopedia service, Knol.

Finally, Pearls From The SBI! Forums features the following...

• SBI! and LinkedIn... A Great Promotional Idea
• Sometimes It's Better Not To Know How Much Work It'll Be
• The Honor of Touching People's Lives
• A Neat Tip For Google's New Numerical Search Volume
• How Value Exchanging Fits Into Your Inbound Links Program
• Careful When Full-Blogging -- You May Get What You Wish For
• The Incredible Value Of SBI! Coaching
• To Knol Or Knot To Knol... Who Knows?  ;-)
• How to Get Major Media Coverage

Click here to read the three most recent issues of the SBI! Xpress. (SBI! owners only.)

Provide Real Value

Ken's Blog

Keep it real. Provide real value.

Google is not "changing the way the game is played." Not unless you are an SEOer. If you're an SBIer, however, the basic rules remain the same.

What Google is changing is how good they are getting at recognizing real value. Foreseeing that is what SBI! has always been based upon, and, as an example, it is why we have always called our tool "VALUE Exchange," even when link farms were all the rage. But more important than that...

A New Showcase For I Love SBI! Videos!: 5 Pillar Affiliate Report #327

Zine Mailings

The 5 Pillar Affiliate Report is for SiteSell.com affiliates only (click here for 5 Pillar Report #327). This e-zine, together with the Quick Start Guide, the 5 Pillar Marketing Guide, and the SiteSell Promotion Center, forms the backbone of the #1 affiliate program in the world.

This week, 5P News announces a New Showcase for the I Love SBI! Videos.

The Article discusses how the "I Love SBI!" Videos fit in with your PPP Strategy.

Pearls From The Affiliate and SBI! Forums features the following...

• Let's Help Julie With Her Powerful Practical PREselling
• Great LinkedIn Idea From Erwin

Click here to read this issue of the 5P Affiliate Report. (Affiliates only. Not an affiliate? Register today.)

The TRUE-TRUE-BUT Red Herring

Ken's Blog

We are a species that likes to tie outcomes into neat cause-and-effect packages. But often, things are just too complex to be able to do that.

Many people have not taken a course in statistics or are not especially logic-left-brained-oriented. So I'm talking about a common mistake in thinking that, ultimately, can be perilous to your financial health...

Be careful of two events that are true and seem related. They are not necessarily cause-and-effect, even if the timing may suggest they are.

This TRUE-TRUE-RELATED thinking is everywhere, not just as it relates to SBI!, but to life in general. And not just with those who are "logic-impaired," but in the Nightly News (ex., the latest reason that the stock market goes up or down on any given day, barring the occasional very rare, clear reason).

I'm already digressing because this is a philosophical pet peeve of mine, sorry...

Let's stick to SBI!. Specifically, let's discuss something you do with SBI! at one end (ex., you re-work a page or you secure a link from Yahoo!'s directory) and something that happens at the other end of SBI! (ex., a good ranking of a page, overall traffic jump, increased income).

-----SIDEBAR-----
How hard is this habit to break? Before I chose the word
"happens" just above, I had written "results." The word
"results" suggests TRUE-TRUE-RELATED. So this is a tough
one to break through.

You need evidence to say that something that happened is
the result of something you did.
-----SIDEBAR-----

OK, here's the bottom line...

Sometimes It's Better Not To Know How Much Work It'll Be

Ken's Blog

I'm sitting here in an Anguilla hotel, feeling a little overwhelmed at all the details left to wrap up before we can move into our new home for the next major phase of our lives when I realized...

Everything that I've ever done that turned out to be important and rewarding was never, at the beginning, clear just how much work it was going to be. And even though you love it, the sheer amount of work (to overcome hurdles and ultimately succeed) is always more than anticipated.

Sure, I knew med school was going to be work. But you don't see it ALL on Day one. Over the years, though med school and post-grad training do add up to being a quantum leap more than expected on that innocent first day. The next major phase...