I Am A Fan of Squidoo Lenses

I have been a fan of Squidoo for a long time and they have now added another lens to its ever growing options to market and promote your business, products, and services. Squidoo is quickly becoming a place to establish yourself as an authority in any area and providing a way to aggregate your content and data, sales for eBay or show your video collection.

The latest addition on Squidoo is called Hey MonkeyBrain!

This is bound to be a huge success and bringing in a lot of new users who want to get into some deep discussions in their interactive forum. This is a place to debate, argue, defend or express ideas, theories, statements, and anything else you want to discuss. This is similar to outquibb.

As a user, you can set up discussions and have other readers join in with their own personalities and views, the more the merrier. Matter of fact, they need to be registered Squidoo users to join your argument.

This is a great way to bring more to your site, and it guarantees a lot of fun, but the greatest aspect about HeyMonkeyBrain is that you can add supplemental information at anytime through various methods. You can add links, blurbs, videos, eBay items, and so much more. Not only are you able to use all methods of aggregate data at any time, but it also enables you as a Squidoo user and Squidoo to create various connections throughout other lenses. This opens up a huge opportunity for viral marketing.

You can use MonkeyBrain for self-promotion!

You can encourage the visitors to your lens to take some action, as well as collect some great marketing research and feedback on the topic of your choice. Your MonkeyBrain lens will show up on your Squidoo profile along with all the other lenses you have built, which also gives you more visual impact on your other lenses. You are basically going to build your own mini-network all around yourself. This is a great way to get your Viral Marketing going!

How can you benefit and get the most out of SMM (Social Media Marketing)? You find tips and tricks all over the Internet and I came across a blog, netbusinessblog that covers this topic beautifully. According to this writer, there is a one and only secret to using SMM properly. He first states…

The Problem:

The problem is by the ways SMM is being used. There are a lot of articles voicing the benefits but very little on how to use it properly. There was an analysis done by Gary Ruplinger on the SEO side of PR back-links, getting instant exposure, and the potential for viral marketing success overnight. If you set out playing this game without knowing what you need to do, you may end up hurting your reputation.

The Solution:

The only way to make use of SMM is by really participating in the community. Become a real contributor, using the services offered the way they are meant to be used. This is the key, become a member of the community you want to be known in.

Do you want to make the frontpage of Digg? Then do it buy building your reputation with good stories and content. The same goes for Reddit with your articles, or YouTube with your videos. Submit your best and your name will be known, coming up through the ranks, all built upon your honest and sincere reputation and contributions.

By taking the shortcuts, you won’t make it. You need to be actively engaged in the community, become a genuine user. Don’t try to play games with people, eventually they will see through it. Remember, Social Media is done by using it, becoming a part of it.

How To Do It:

*Do you want to gain a reputation on Digg?

Then submit some great stories, and vote on the stories you like.

*Do you want people to go to your MyBlogLog?

Visit their blogs, if you like what you see, let them know, join their community.

These are simple questions with even simpler answers. You need to dive into these social media site and learn how to use them. You cannot go into the social media with the mindset of what you can gain from it, you need to know how to use it and enjoy it. Then you will naturally build a good reputation, gain some new readers, and be the winner in the end.

I have had people ask me how you setup Aweber with Feedburner, so I decided to write a Step-by-Step post on how to do it but first lets quickly review why you should do it:

Why Use Aweber with Feedburner:

* Scheduling – Aweber allows you to choose the time and how often (day, week, month) to send out your blog broadcasts
* Designs – You can design your template for your blog broadcasts
* Post Count – You can setup how many new posts before it sends an email with a link to all the posts
* Build a List – You can email your newly established and growing list about anything at any time
* Can-Spam Compliant – There is a link in every email for a subscriber to be removed, fast & easy, so good for your readers
* Now Counts Towards Feedburner Count – Better Than RSS subscribers as it counts them every day, even if they delete the email without reading it. Having a high feed count is very good for getting advertisers, growing your blog and of course increasing your blogs value!

How To Set It Up:

It really is quite simple once you know what you are doing, but to save you some time, here is a step-by-step on how to get Aweber configured to handle your email blog subscriptions and reflect in your Feedburner counter.

First: you need to have an Aweber account, so if you don’t you should open one up. The cost is $19.95 per month.

Second: Create a new autoresponder for your blog:

Third: You click on ‘Messages’ then ‘Blog Broadcast’, from there you click ‘Create Blog Broadcast’:

Fourth: Fill out the form entering your feed, configuring your template and title. Here you also choose how many posts are made before it sends, I have mine set to 2. Also, click on ‘Automatically deliver’ so that it starts sending without you needing to log into Aweber and approve it first each time. (maybe leave it manual for the first few to get the design right):

Fifth: Save your settings then go to ‘List Settings’ and then click on ‘Web Form’. Setup a form and then confirm it. (maybe only use email if you don’t want first name. On my email feed I have first name configured too. Then update setting’s and click on ‘html’. Take the html and paste it into the site where you want to have your form:

Sixth: Your site is now ready to grow you a list with Aweber and communicate your subscribers stats via feedburner. The next thing to do is configure your thank you pages and also the personal email sent for the member to confirm.

To see how you can set it up, why not sign up to my email update service and see how I have done it.

Wow! A whole week has gone since I last wrote my first ever Sunday Summary – It honestly only feels like a day!

Personal Update:

Personally this week I have been focusing on getting back into gym and watching my diet. Being a marketer we do tend to not focus on this aspect as much as we should, so this week a conscious decision was made to get focused again on the ‘healthy lifestyle’.

I also went to go and see a live performance of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ which was wonderful. I saw it in London before but Brisbane did a pretty good job too!

This week I also focused on my business ventures (as I do every week) and am happy with the way things are progressing, a little slowly for mine, but then again, I have always been a bit impatient (not a great quality to poses). I also spent time reading and learning Forex ins-and-outs because, well, it’s one thing to make the money, its another thing to leverage that money to good use. I have a stake in property already, so looking to expand and diversify my portfolio a bit. I will keep you updated on how that progresses.

In Other News:

Last week I covered microsofts bid for yahoo, well it looks like it might be costing them. Techcrunch covered the story which omits the fact that all tech stocks are doing it rough at the moment but it does seem Microsoft investors (a few of them at least) are ‘jumping ship‘.

Ebook Launch:

This week was the very soft launch of my ebook. I am still revising the additions and improving it, but so far have had very good feedback!

You can check it out at: http://www.ViralMarketingManuscript.com – As I do new revisions and updates, you will be sent them via email included in the purchase price.

Digsby Becomes a part of Centralize Email, IM, Facebook and MySpace According to Mashable

If you have not heard of Digsby, then check it out! This is an upcoming aggregator of profiles that will work right on your desktop. This will allow you to keep in touch with your email inboxes, IM buddies and your Social Networking accounts. This looks a lot like an AOL buddy list where you can sign in with all the popular instant messenger sites, email clients as well as MySpace and Facebook. If you want to try it out, then Download the application and enter the names of your clients and email accounts. You can get your Facebook and MySpace alerts on this as well. When you are asked for the passcode, enter the word “mashable“.

The most complex part of this program is the integration with Facebook. The Facebook operates from a application that gives a variety of updates, telling you when someone adds a note, changes a picture, etc…The Facebook integration will allow you to use Digsby as a chat window to converse with your network buddies.

MySpace does not offer as many updates, and not as integrated as Facebook is. Just as you would see an IM alert with AOL, you will see a new message flash on the bottom of your screen while you are logged in to your accounts. As well as getting these alerts, you will see your updates for your social networks and email just by scrolling over the account on your desktop client.

Digsby is a great tool to help in your Social Marketing:

This is a downloadble application that is pretty easy to use. This program has some great centralized update tools that can be found on other social browsers. But this however, seems to be the new and updated version of profile aggregators. Check it out.

There is a new generation coming in the forefront of entrepreneurship. The generation born between 1977 and 1994 are well on their way to becoming the most entrepreneurial generation in history…why? The people born during that time were taking their baby steps when we were first entering the first true entrepreneurial decade. They watched and learned as their parents were restructuring from the life of Corporate living; they have the boom of technology growing with them. This was a time of great change.

There was a study done by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor that showed people from the ages of 18 to 24 years in the US are starting their own businesses at a rate faster than those between the ages of 35 to 44 years of age, and they are getting rich! College campuses are a fertile breeding ground for innovation and builders of new companies, inventors, leaders, they are growing in number daily.

Jeff Cornwall of the Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. said “Forty percent or more of students who come into our undergraduate entrepreneurship program as freshmen already have a business, It’s a whole new world.”

The up and coming stars that are on INC.’s “30 under 30″ list for the year 2007 would also agree to the above statement. They state that there are a few high school startups, and even more in the college dorm rooms…business racking up revenue in the tens of millions, then there are others who are just starting to see success, nevertheless, they will see it.

You who are reading this blog, and people like me, are those to drive success. We are the future here, we are the “E” generation…there is no reason for sitting back and watching everyone else succeed. We are the generation that can really make a difference. YOU can make the difference. Talk to your friends, ask them what their plans are…most of them will say they want to start their own business.

There is one particular characteristic that defines the “E” generation, which was discovered in a recent survey by OPEN from American Express. They compared our E generation and the baby-boomer entrepreneurs. 59 % of the E generation business owners referred to themselves as serial entrepreneurs, as to only 33% of the baby boomers. Could this be the attitude about risk? Generation E is polled at 72% being risk takers, and actually enjoying taking risks, where the older generation show only 53% of being risk takers.

Some may say this is a pipe dream, but then that is where the risk comes in. In addition, it is also much easier for a 22 year old to start a business of their own, than someone who is in their 50′s, which has financial obligations such as a mortgage, college tuition for children, and caught in the life that they have always lived. I am not saying that if you are in your 50′s you can’t become an entrepreneur, I am saying the majority are the younger generation. There are many more than you would ever realize that are gaining great success in this venue, and you can do it too!

Stick around; you will continue to learn how to be one of the successful Generations “E”. I will help you get there.

BIG Call there but….

It’s true. You hear all the time, ‘the money is in the list’ and more recently Frank Kern stated in one of his Mass Control Videos, ‘The Money Is In The Relationship With Your List’. I subscribe to Mr. Kern’s thought process but in order to have a good relationship with your list, you first need to have a list.

Aweber is a List Builder and Autoresponder, for those who don’t know what Aweber does, it allows you to capture your prospects names, emails and anything else you might consider useful and then contact them at will.

With Aweber you can setup unlimited lists, Autoresponders and contact forms and send an unlimited number of messages for one low monthly fee. Aweber are also known for their amazingly high deliverable rates with full time staff working on keeping Aweber off the spam lists so that your email gets delivered.

Aweber Works With Feedburner:

I use Aweber with my sites and Niches and in fact have a couple of accounts with them. It just got even better though, because now Aweber offers the ability to integrate in with your blog, so no longer do you need to use Feedburner email subscription as Aweber now reports your numbers to feedburner and allows you to manage your own list and presentation of the newsletter. The benefits here are huge! If you have some vital information you want to get out to your subscribers, you can just login and send them an email, also for those that use the ‘rss counter’ widget provided by feedburner, your subscribers are now reported and show up on there!

This is a brand new function and I have just added it to my blog. At the moment, every time there are 2 posts made an email is sent out to my subscribers that subscribe to this blog by email, with the content of those posts, allowing my readers to never miss a post.

If you don’t yet have an Aweber account and are serious about making money online, I suggest you get one and start building a list from whatever niche you are targeting online

Get Your Account Now

To see the Blog broadcast function in action and to never miss another ‘content rich’ post on ViralKing Dot Com please:

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The question; is there a market for another PPC network for bloggers?

Simon Emery and I were having a chat on MSN as has recently become the norm, and we were talking about needs in the blogosphere marketplace when it dawned on me… We have PPC text ads for bloggers, but we don’t have a dedicated network of PPC ads for 125*125 banner boxes that has now become popular as well as the other common banner forms by bloggers, for bloggers.

I was looking on my blog, and as it is (at time of writing this) new there is a lot of unsold ad inventory. What if my banners on the side, and my featured banners at the top, could be populated with Default ads that earn me a CPC every time someone clicks it.

Then if someone wants to buy the ad on my site for a month, like is the norm, they can and it will automatically replace one of the CPC spots.

Next, from an advertiser point of view, what if, instead of paying each blog to get my ad shown, I can bid a CPC amount, select geotargetting such as the niche of the blog, country of the visitor and possibly even age demographic and have my banner ads serviced on many blogs that fit my filter! These blogs will be of a high standard due to the fact that we plan to review each blog before accepting it into the network.

I got excited and pitched this idea to Simon. Guess what, turns out he was thinking along the same sort of lines for his OIO plugin that allows you to sell your ad inventory and cut out the ‘middle man’. He wanted to allow users to service default ads with CPC ads until that spot was sold.

Now we were talking, both of us thought it was a great idea and now we are at the stage of finding a viable platform to add-on to. Simon has published some research on the current ad platforms he has found. He has omitted some of the higher range stuff (One platform as high as $30,000 + 5%) which we may need to consider too.

If you think that we should not be publishing our ideas for the world to see at such an early stage, worry not, we have some very unique and clever ideas for the network that will of course not be reveled until we launch in Beta.