Do you have a lot of blog’s that you are trying to keep track of? Do you take advantage of your Google Reader?

We are all very busy, but yet there are so many things we want to make sure we read…and for me, this is a list of blogs that I don’t want to miss. I have subscribed to their RSS feed and have them sent directly to my Google reader.

Whether it be business blogs, news, hobbies, or family and friends, I want to make sure I know what’s going on. I was showing a family member how to use this great tool, and thought….hey why not write about it just in case there is somebody else who may not know of this great tool.

Tips and tricks

If your phone has a data connection, you can access Google Reader on the go by pointing your mobile phone’s browser to http://www.google.com/reader/m.

When you find a great blog, such as this one, and you want to continue to read each new post, then click on the RSS feed button, and you will have the option of having it go to your Google Reader or to your homepage. I find that the reader works best for me, as I can read each one right after another, and skip past those that hold no interest.

One blog I like to read is from The Underachiever Life by Ed Dale. You can have your own blogs gaining a lot more traffic by posting them on BlogRush. This is a great way to bring more readers to your blog. Register, add the Blogosphere widget to your site and when you blog, it will be posted in the Blogosphere on related blogs.

As you can see, I have just added BlogRush on this blog and Whilst some people say they don’t get any decent results with BlogRush, I say, try it for yourself and track your own results. Be sure to write good, ‘buzz’ headlines!

Note: Firstly, sorry for making you wait 4 days for a new post! I was meeting my business partner and working on a new project… You can watch my first EVER video online HERE …

LinkSpank Spanking?

I have come across another great tool for your viral marketing strategy and it involves a bit of ‘spanking’. No, not the kind you are thinking, this spanking is not the naughty kind, but actually a way to share your content that you like. When you find a page, product, or service that you find interesting, you “spank it”. LinkSpank is a new form of social bookmarking!

This is a fun new way of voting for your favorites or sharing by sending these sites through email. You can also post it to your wall, adding items such as videos, which will all be an additional spank. You will be encouraging users to develop some deep discussions around the items you have submitted and all throughout LinkSpank.

You will make a LinkSpank profile and this profile will be your Inbox where you will be able to receive and send your favorites between your friends. You will be sending these through your email and will be receiving spanks from your friends. If you find that you are getting too many spanks, you can adjust your settings.

There is always the bad with the good, and we have found the kind of bad with LinkSpank is the way they share the content. You can relate it to UPS where all the packages are sent to the central warehouse or hub then sent out from there. Basically, you are collecting your favorite content in LinkSpank and emailing them from there. This is quite different from the way you normally share things such as on Facebook or sending an email directly.

But this is actually what LinkSpank is trying to accomplish by doing it this way:

1. This is a catchall for any content that you want to share
2. It is organized and easily accessed for anytime in the future
3. You can find your content through a simple search
4. Works a lot like your email inbox

This is not a replacement for the other social bookmarking sites, but an additional way to get your products and services known.

There is a buzz word going around now called permission marketing. Permission marketing is a privilege that you have to send messages to to people who actually want to receive them. The best and most effective way to make your viral marketing campaign work is when you first have the permission of the recipient of your marketing material. This is not only sending something to someone who wants it, but you are showing great respect and this is the best way of getting their attention.Attention is another key word that you need to focus on. A permission viral marketer knows that when someone gives you their attention, they are giving you some they cherish and that is their time. You are taking up their time in reading your content, giving them a chance to decide if what they are reading, hearing or watching is worth their time and will add value to their life.

When you have obtained someones email through a website or sales page, you have their permission to send them content. They are expecting to receive some valuable content from you. Now if you want to make sure that your product is marketed, then you need to assure that your content is worth their time. Once they receive it, review it, and find that it was what they were hoping for, or even more than what they were expecting, they will want to pass it on to their friends, their co-workers, and their family.

Once you have their permission, then you need to make sure you follow through on a continuous basis with something of value. Don’t start throwing gimmicks their way, or trying to get them the buy something with each message, give them something, make this be about what you can give, not what you can get.

When someone subscribes to the newspaper, they are expecting content daily, and they are looking forward to it. The newspaper has their full attention, because they have their permission to drop off this content on a daily basis. They have earned the trust of the recipient and therefore, can still drop off a paper daily, and the ads will be read, merchandise will be sold.

So, think of yourself as someone who is willing to gain the trust of your recipients, that you want to have their permission to show up in their email once a week, or however many times you plan on delivering quality content. Once you win their trust, you have them for life, and you will see your viral marketing campaign take off.

I have been talking a lot about viral marketing…and the reason I am doing this is because it works! This a great way to expand the growth of your business without having to pay for advertising and spending the time to do it. You do this simply by offering your product or service for FREE along with your sales copy. Now the plan is that your product will be read and shared with friends and family…and they will share it with clients, prospects, visitors to your sites and those who have your product.

A good way to do this is with a trial or lite version of a software program. Everyone loves something for free, and getting a free software is really fun to get. When they have used it, see the benefits, they are going to want to share it with everyone they know. You want to make sure your customers know to share the software with anyone and everyone. If you need some help in developing some software…you can hire help at Elance.

Next, you should start using discussion boards. Set up a discussion board on your website, and post it up at the top by your banner ad. Then you want to encourage your readers to provide a link to this on their own websites.

What about Ebook’s? This is another great strategy that will make your viral marketing a success. You are going to give away your Ebook with the traffic that comes to your site. You want to advertise your best product line with a captivating full-color ad including your contact information. Remember…tell everyone who gets yourEbook to share it with their visitors and their contacts.

Article writing!

Write articles that coincide with your niche or product. In your byline, you will put your contact information along with your website. Then, give permission to anyone to publish your articles as long as they leave the byline in the article, and without changing it. Your articles will soon be in article directories such asEzine, in newsletters, on websites and anywhere else that can bring you attention to your site.

Another way to do this is through web hosting. Find a small business and make an offer to host their websites on your server for free. In return, you place your banner at the top of their site.

Another great marketing technique is using templates. You can create templates and give them away as a free download, which needs to include your own marketing information. Make them easy to pass along from your recipient to their contacts. You have a few techniques here to try out…see which one works out best for you. When you are using viral marketing techniques, it shouldn’t take long for you to start seeing some successful changes happening.

Check out this article at USA Today regarding Viral Marketing. You will see here why this is such a successful marketing tool. Also another great resource that I have found is the Online Marketing Blog.

Here are some Viral Marketing Tools you need to see and take advantage of!

There are a number of Social Marketing networks and platforms for you to spread your name and get your brand out and known. As you know, we have been giving you some great tips on social marketing and how to use these great tools for your benefit. One to give notice to is Utterz which allows you to use your cell phone to post voice, videos, pictures and text mashups to your blogs at anytime, anywhere right from your cell phone. You can post to one site or all your sitesl at once. Utterz is free to use, does not require any special software for your cell phone, and can be done conveniently whether you are traveling, or just away from your computer.

Another one of the fastest growing communities is CafeMom. This is a site that was launched November, 2006, and has since become the most popular site for women. They have become famous for their photo-sharing, widgets, micro-blogging and more. If you are marketing for the female audience, this is a great place to be.

Here is a site to add to your viral marketing plan, it is coComment. This has been the leader of blog access and comment, aggregation, and tracking technology. They have provided a great hub enabling conversations online, ability to track and share comments anywhere on the Internet.

Get Your Marketing Going Quickly and Effectively!

Another stop on your travels online needs to be FaceySpacey, which is a leading Social Media Marketing and Development Company. They specialize in flash widgets, Facebook Aplications, social networking sites, Rich Internet Applications, YouTube-style sites, and yes, viral marketing! They started sites like OganicIncentive.com, ReelProperties.tv and so many more. FaceySpacey is the shopping mall for Social Media.

Another stop on your Social Media Marketing tour is KickApps and KickDeveloper. This is a great on-demand social media application which enables marketers and web site builders to monetize quickly and easily an online audience. This has a SaaS platform with user generated content, social-networking, viral widgets, and online video players.

There are a few strategies that will bring traffic to your blogs, and one is Controversy. We all love a good argument, and a chance to voice our opinions. Controversy has been used throughout the ages bringing about headlines, discussions, views of opinion, and a lot of gossip.

Give some case studies…bloggers don’t do this enough, but they can be great for reading. A good case study will bring to point “is this for real?”, and will help your reader decide this for himself. By using case studies, your readers are able to see themselves using ‘your’ solution.

Talk to your readers, make them feel less alone. One of the biggest fears of people is actually being alone. By sharing your experiences, or writing about something your reader can associate with, sharing a common concern or fear, maybe talking about something that makes you happy, or ask a question about something you would like to know. In other words, create a connection between you and your reader. Make him or her feel like they are coming home when they come to your blog. Make them feel like you understand them, and that you are no better than they are…and you have your ups and downs too.

If you make any claims, back them up with proof. What kind of business are you in? Give some screen-shots of your work, maybe some photos, or some statistics. Give your reader a reason to believe you, to have faith in what you say. Show that you have integrity, and that you are not trying to push something over on anyone. Earn their trust.

Be honest, if you have a bad day, let them know, if you make a mistake, learning from it and share what you have learned. You want to have your readers care about what you have to say, not to get them to agree with you. You will never have everyone believing what you believe, or agreeing with your views, and that is great, that is where the controversy comes into play. But, be honest! Don’t be tempted to stretch the truth to make things or yourself look better….you will lose your readers doing this. Remember, honest is always the best policy.

Give a place for bragging rights by your readers! Give them a place to share their successes, and you can share in their excitement. You may actually want to turn this into a forum eventually. You want your readers to have a place to come and say, “I did it!” And to receive the praise from you and your other readers. Then you will look good because your readers are succeeding, and benefiting by your site.

Have you readers contribute to your blog with their questions. Encourage conversation, and have your readers become contributors to your blog.

Because it Works! Viral marketing can be done in many different ways, but when you decide to make the leap, it is best to pick on a particular strategy and focus on it. This will be the best way to get the results you are looking for. If you are using an article marketing strategy, you can turn some of your articles into an Ebook or report

Because you have already put the articles together, it won’t take a lot of time to develop them into something that can bring in some traffic and sales for many years to come. You will gather your articles, compile them into a single document, and then maybe do some rebranding, make it look nice and appealing.

The key here is not to focus on the advertisements or the marketing components of your product, but to add value to the reader. This is about them, what they will be looking for. A popular technique used is adding a few products in your niche. You can include them as your own affiliate links, but consider cloaking them to make them less obvious.

When you are ready to distribute it, this can be done in one of many ways. If the publication you have put together is good quality, you may want to sell it. If you want to make it viral, you need to include reprint rights. You will get the sales from the product as well as having it spread around.

Now, if you really want it to go viral, then you should give it away for free and encourage others to do the same thing, with the provisions that nothing is changed in any way whatsoever. This way you can advertise your giveaway in emails and forums. Another place that is often forgotten is on the download page of any similar products that you sell. Everybody loves bonuses, and the unadvertised bonuses are even better, and when it is on the download page, it becomes a part of the actual order, and then most readers will download it.

When it comes to cost, viral marketing is considerably less expensive than traditional advertising. Remember that viral marketing is only one component of your marketing strategy. You need link it with other strategies like your opt-ins and setting up squeeze pages. This will all help to generate traffic to your site, developing a solid customer base and increasing your sales.

We have all heard about the The Secret...well, since this has been brought into light, the lives of many have been drastically changed. On Oprah, the original author of this concept was a guest on her show. Her name is Louise Hay, and she wrote a book called ‘You Can Heal Your Life’.

She wrote this international best seller 24 years ago and since has seen this change the lives of so many. There were two more guests who spoke about the power of your thoughts and of making lists.

Now the reason I bring this up is because this makes such a dramatic difference in your life and the success of your business.

You and I have the power to bring good into our lives by changing your thinking. Louise Hay was thrilled when The Secret came out last year, happy to know that everyone will have the chance to apply this into their lives.

This power can work not only in big ways, but in many little ways. Oprah shared an experience she had last month when a Bubble Blower came on her show…she thought she she would love to go blow bubbles with her god-daughter and needed to get some bubbles. She went up to her office, and next to her desk was a bag with 6 bottles of bubbles and a silver bubble blower from Tiffany’s. She asked her assistant if she had gone out and bought these bubbles for her. Her assistant replied “No, I bought those for your birthday, and they have always been there, you just have never noticed them before today.” Oprah was stunned! She couldn’t believe that these bubbles had been there this entire time, but because she had not thought of them until now, she had never noticed them.

We, you and I, can really change our lives with our thoughts. We become what we think about, whether we want it or not. You need to first start off with positive affirmations, and this is the foundation that you build upon. If you are always talking negatively to or about yourself, how can you bring anything positive into your life? How can you be successful in your business if you think of yourself as a failure? You need to love life and know that life loves you in return.

Affirmations are like planting a seed, you give it a chance to grow, it may take time, but it will grow if your nourish it. This is too where making goals and lists, writing out your desires of where you want to be is so important. You are reinforcing this in your mind, you are making it concrete in your consciousness.

They talked about making lists, some made out of fear…’the shallows’, and then the list that comes from our heart. This does not work if you are desiring things from the ‘shallows’, but things that are of real value. An example they used was King Midas…he wanted gold to make him rich, but he soon learned, after his wife and child were turned to gold, that all he really wanted to love and happiness. If he had asked that in the first place, he would have that plus the gold.

I just wanted to share this with you, it has reinforced the role of positive thinking in my own life and I know it will help you as well.