SiteSell Blog

Self-Help Books - A Waste of Time?

Ken's Blog

Young SBIer Istvan asked the following in the SBI! Forums...

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'The question is about self-help, or should I say: The Self-Help Industry! I've just finished reading "Think And Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, and read some reviews on its Amazon page. I intended to find the 5 best self-help books out there to give me a guidance in life (I'm 17), but instead I've completely lost all my enthusiasm.... So what do you think about it? Is it worth spending/wasting huge amounts of time on reading any of these books or listening to tapes etc... or is it a complete waste of time?"

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Ah...at 17, I was probably reading Ayn Rand, and then reading more "mass-market libertarians" like Harry Browne and Robert Ringer (who inspired me in many ways, including the tortoise, and he's also an SBIer!).

Fast forward by 10 years or so...

A few years out of medical school and after leading a massive public fight against our government over quality of care in Montreal's EMS system (we won), I recognized that a socialized medical system doomed me to be a slave to the state (which turned out to be true, some 30 years later).

I loved emergency medicine, but I needed to find something else to do to build me a net worth that would not have me still working at medicine at 70 because I had to.

-----SIDEBAR------
The ideal combination (for a new way of earning income) is
passion AND monetization potential, remember. You may, of
course, tilt towards one or the other, as long as you
realize the nature of the trade-off that you make and what
it means to you, long-term.
-----SIDEBAR------

The single most important sliding doors of your life will be the points where you stop thinking and you decide to DO. Or NOT to do...

Is Publishing an E-zine Worth the Effort?

PREselling

With all of the noise about blogging, twittering and facebooking nowadays, you would think that everyone has forgotten about e-zines (i.e., e-mailed newsletters). If they have, that's a mistake.

A quality e-zine lets you revisit your visitors. It reminds them about you, and it gives them reasons to return to your site. Possibilities include e-zines that deliver one or more of the following...

• new info about your site
• new product/service introductions, upgrade announcements, emerging trends, specials, etc.
• brand new content exclusive to subscribers (this model is more challenging because it involves creating new content)
• the rest is, as they say, limited only by your imagination.

The goal of your newsletter is to deepen the "P" in Content Traffic PREsell Monetize. Use it to build likability and trust. Nurture a great relationship with customers and prospects by keeping in touch with them on a regular basis.

For a service provider, an e-zine is a must. It's another way to demonstrate your expertise and ability to deliver.  Repeat exposure is the effective repeat credibility-booster that you need to quietly convince your prospect that "you are the right person" to retain.

What makes a successful e-zine? The answer is simple...

How To Turn Your Online Business Into a Community

Guest Blogs by SBIers

By Rena Klingenberg from jewelrybusinesstips.com

A few years ago I came across two words that changed my view of my online business....

At the time, I was reading my visitors' feedback at the end of an article on one of my websites. One of the comments mentioned "Rena's community." What? I had a community? When did that happen?

Suddenly my entire perception of my websites shifted. I didn't have just subscribers, visitors, and commenters. Instead, I had a true community... people who were the heart and soul of my online business... folks who...

• subscribe to my newsletter and RSS feeds
• visit my sites regularly
• read nearly everything I publish
• post comments on my individual web pages
• submit their content and photos to my sites
• purchase my info-products
• link to and promote my websites
• interact with each other on my website pages.

Over the years, these people have indeed become a lovely community of kindred spirits revolving around my websites.

As soon as I grasped this new vision of "community," I began to revamp all of my sites into better social gathering places where people in my niche come to share, learn, connect, and inspire each other. You can do the same...

It's Time To Raise Your Game!

E-Business Tips

Speculating about Google's Panda algorithm change that Ken posted about back in February and its global rollout this month is pointless. Most folks, just like after most Google dances, are doing fine. (For example, total traffic across all SBI! sites is up, a testimonial to the overall quality and success of SBI! sites.)

However, for those sites that did experience a substantial traffic drop, the hurt is gut-wrenching. The natural reaction is to lash out at Google, to wonder "why me?". Meanwhile, those who are unaffected continue quietly working, oblivious to the controversies and even conspiracy theories swirling around the Web.

Impacted or not, it's time for all to do a detailed self-audit. Ifyour site hasbeen impacted, return to basics -- be very critical of your site.(If you're an SBIer, check off the self-audit steps listed in this TNT HQ article.)

If your site-audit does not uncover any specific causes, it's all the more upsetting. It's important to remember that what seems to be an arbitrary "rejection" by Google is, in fact, a mistake... a "false-positive." This type of error has, historically, righted itself over time as Google constantly moves to improve its algorithm. What to do in the meantime?

The best solution for this type of hurt is to keep moving forward, to focus on doing rather than speculating.

Don't get caught up in trying to over-analyze the situation. You have to keep on working through it until Google's algorithm catches back up to reality...

Pointers for Sourcing Product

Monetization

Do you want to sell hard goods online? Are you considering an online store as one of your income streams? Either you make the products yourself to sell or you find third party "makers" and sell their goods. The hunt for the latter is known as "sourcing product."

Start your search close by. You may know people who create their own products (artist, designer, pewter maker, sculptor, welder, wood carver, writer, etc.). Do their products fit with your site's theme? Yes? Contact them, and set up a sales agreement. You market and distribute their products, and they pay you an acceptable percentage. This way, no out-of-pocket expenses are required to stock inventory on your part.

When you are sourcing product, all it takes is a little creative "outside the box" thinking to locate an opportunity that "fits" with your e-business. Instead of being a "creator of product" become an "aggregator of products."

Ouch! Page Dropped By Google!

Traffic Generation

There are many reasons why a page could be dropped from Google. The key for you is to figure out why and whether you should do anything about it. Let's start with these general possibilities...

• Pages have duplicate content. This could be from using an article from an article directory, without reworking and adding lots of original content to the page. Or it could be from affiliate products, where the same wording about the products is found on dozens of other affiliates' pages.

• A site has copied another site's content. That duplicate content may affect the latter's rankings.

• Google doesn't trust the links into the site. They may come from spammy neighborhoods, link farms, or from sites known to sell links.

• Google doesn't trust the links out from the site. These links are going to sites unrelated to the content of the page or site.

• Pages are orphans (pages that have lost all links in to them), or are very far from the home page, with just one link to them, likely from the next higher level. If Google has to do a really deep crawl to find a page, it is more likely to get dropped (if it ever lists it, that is).

Lots of Traffic? Sell Ad Space!

Monetization

Are you planning to sell advertising space on your well-established website? Advertising rates vary widely among niches. A site about finance or investing can demand a higher ad fee than a site about novelty gifts.

If there's no "set standard," how do you calculate the value of an ad on your site? Here are some suggestions...

1) Over and above your niche consideration, take into account factors such as...

• PageRank of page (when linking out)

• Your site's Alexa traffic rank

• Traffic numbers for the page where the link will be located

• Keyword value (both the keywords the advertiser wants to use in the ad and keyword value of the page where the ad will be located)

• Age of your site (a well established site vs. a new and not as virally connected site).

2) Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find out what advertisers are paying for each of your important keywords.

3) Do a search for advertising rate sheets available from other sites. You will get a good idea of what your competition is charging for ads.

Once you finalize your rate structure, move on to the next step...

Reality Vs. "Should Be"

E-Business Tips

Reality does not go away because you ignore it or say things should not be the way they are. Reality, if ignored, merely rears its sometimes ugly head later on and smacks you in the head, after you've done so much work and have much more on the line.

Don't make decisions based purely on "the way things should be." Take a hard look at what's happening in the present, the "here and now." Work your e-business within your comfort level and be proud of what you do and who you are.

Robert Ringer sums up his Reality Theory this way....

'Reality isn't the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are. Either you acknowledge reality and use it to your benefit, or it will automatically work against you.'

Does your e-business need a reality check? Are your e-business goals smoothly aligned with your personal beliefs and your actual situation?

Images Are Also Content

Content & Article Writing

Images are also content... especially if your niche is very visual (ex., a travel niche). If your site fits that bill, optimize all images by following these guidelines...

1) File Name:  The page's keyword should be in the image's file name (the exact keyword is best, dashes between each word in a multi-word keyword).

2) Alt Attribute (Alt Text) and Title Attribute:   Use the page's keyword in a brief Alt Text description of what the image is about. Keep it short, but make it descriptive (ex., a photo of the pool at the Cuisinart Hotel might say "Cuisinart Hotel swimming pool").

How Do You React to Change?

Guest Blogs by SBIers

By Richard Gorham from Leadership-Tools.com

Too often we hear people complain when they are forced to change from "the way it's always been". The excuses are plentiful and easily anticipated, usually coming from the same group of nay-sayers.

This type of reaction is not surprising because most human beings, when faced with change, experience a heightened degree of discomfort. Their discomfort leads to fear and anxiety as they ponder the potential for future conflict or failure.

Consequently, most people prefer to remain within their 'comfort zone'. They shackle themselves with lower expectations and will do almost anything to avoid change from affecting them.

And then there are the ultra-successful minority (measured by overall happiness) who understand the many benefits of change, and who more fully appreciate why getting, and living outside their comfort zone is so deeply important.