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photo credit: dyanna

A few days after arriving at my parents place, they decided they were selling the house I grew up in and moving. So I've been doing a bit of moving. My parents have already bought their retirement home and we need (my Mom thinks we need to, I have a different perspective on the matter) to move the stuff from one house to the other. Of course, the other house is 1/2 the size and already furnished but there's a 1,700 square foot garage/shop so we should have lots of room for the stuff my mom can't part with yet.

The only problem is my brother has over 100 candy machines taking up most of the room in the shop.

That's 100 'project' that could be making money, sitting there not. The kicker is: he had to take out a loan to buy them. Not only is he not making money on them, he's losing money on them.

I have a problem with flitting from one project to another, but his failure to complete this project dumbfounds me. I'm pretty confident my wife and I could make enough to live on with the number of machines he has and he has even lower expenses than we do. What a wasted opportunity.

Projects you have sitting in your 'garage' do not make you money. Whether it's a new DVD or a software project or just a screencast, you need to complete it. Terry Dean recommends to finish any project within 30 days of starting it. I concur and the shorter the timespan the better. I recommend in my Develop Custom Software Yourself - Even If You Have No Prior Experience Developing Software guide to limit the time for a project to something that will put pressure on whomever is doing it. That includes you even if you aren't developing software!

So pull out some of those half completed projects, put them on the front burner and get them finished. Release them into the wild and start making money sooner rather than never.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Of all the skills you need to really make it online, I consider gaining conversions (into sales or into an opt in list) to be the most important. If you have high conversion, you can afford to just buy all the traffic you need. Even if you need to spend a $1.00 per visitor but you're making $1.20 a visitor, then it makes sense to do it. You'll only get to that point once you've gotten a good conversion rate.

I've been working on all of my landing pages and of course, I went to Copyblogger to find out more. Luckily, they've been covering landing pages extensively and recently they put together a summation of all their landing page posts. I've been putting into practice many of their recommendations and I suspect I will be returning to the resource again and again.

You can find out what a landing page is, why it's important and if it's okay to just drive traffic to a single landing page (it's not).

Landing Pages on Copyblogger

Popularity: 12% [?]

There's 3 basic steps to marketing on the internet. It's all based around permission. You must gain a person's permission to send them occasional offers and (more often) helpful information they're interested in.

1. Drive traffic to your website.

Here you can use PPC, SEO, article submissions, social media, blog carnivals, press releases, link building, etc. There are literally 100's of different ways of getting traffic to your website or blog.

2. Increase conversions of your sales page or opt-in page.

Using Google Optimizer or one of the more highly priced packages start to modify your site to increase conversions. Start with headlines and the offer. If you are using Aweber for maintaining your opt in list, then use it's built in functionality for testing different signup forms.

3. Use the permission you've just gained to contact the person.

This does not mean spam them! Provide them with a couple of informational articles and then a single offer. Several articles of information and then another offer. Do not abuse their permission.

It's just about that simple. Over the past few months this is the plan that has produced the most success for my business, especially driving traffic to a opt-in page with a giveaway and repeatedly contacting the person. I've heard it said and now can testify that it is easier to convert over a series of emails than it is to sell them on a one shot sales page. I'm going back to revamp some of my opt-in pages to contact and promote my other products and provide valuable information.

Popularity: 14% [?]

photo credit: seier+seier+seier

I was watching one of those find a home shows on TV the other night with my family. The couple were first time buyers looking in Cabo San Lucas.

Every single place, was a 2 story house. Every single place had the best views from the bedroom.

The bedroom! The place where most of the time when you're in there, it's dark or you have your eyes shut.

How stupid. Why not have the living area on the 1st level and the bedrooms on the ground floor? Then when you're relaxing during the day or in the evening (before it gets dark) you'll get to enjoy the views? Plus, you can put lots of windows and skylights into the top floor while leaving the lower floor darker with fewer window - because you're going to probably want to sleep in the dark, right?

I suspect this is just a habit architects have gotten into. The living area goes on the ground floor, bedrooms on the raised floors. Has there ever been a test done to see if houses laid out in this manner sell better than those with reversed layouts? Is there some innate or vestigial need for us to sleep off of the ground, if given the choice?

Of course, this relates to internet businesses, because everyone needs to periodically ask themselves if they are stuck in habits no longer making any sense.

What would happen if you shook things up a bit? Flipped this and flopped that? Take some time to evaluate your assumptions and question all of your actions. Then test them against what you are already doing.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Here's a handy and free tool to capture print screens.

Gadwin Print Screen is probably the easiest way I've found to capture images off of my desktop.

It allows you to capture the images in several different formats and allows you to choose to capture the whole screen, the current window, client window or a rectangular area of your own definition. The images can be sent to a file, a printer, e-mail, the clipboard or a combination of any of those.

I don't use it often, but it's handy to have when I do need it.

Check it out here:
Gadwin Print Screen

Popularity: 32% [?]

How do you feel about associating your name with your blog? Obviously, I went whole hog with this blog and even used my name as the domain name. Quite a few others have done so too. What was just a way to post questions to other bloggers has turned into a whole business all by itself.

The question is: is it right to do so intentionally. If you're virtually an unknown is it going to impact either way the ability for you to draw in new readers?

I get the impression when people see my domain name, it isn't clear what this blog is about. I didn't (and still don't) have the name recognition of a Terry Dean or Michel Fortin. If I had to do it over I would probably choose a domain name more appropriate to the target audience or keywords. I usually use the domain name as a quick judge of what the site is about. Someone's name, just doesn't give much unless I know the name. Which usually isn't the case in my instance.

But on the other hand, if I want to get my name out there and create a brand "Steven Lohrenz", then maintaining this blog is the best way to do it. I don't think this path is the way I want to go with my business, but at this point I'm still finding my feet and working on shorter term goals, so I'll let this blog develop as it may.

But back to the original question - how do you feel about associating your name with your blog. Pros? Cons?

Popularity: 42% [?]

photo credit: Chesi - Fotos CC

I'm going to share with you a way to shave time off your blog reading every day.

I'm sure everyone knows about RSS…

Right?

No?

If not, you're not alone. RSS uptake has been dismal. I think people are a bit overwhelmed by the technology advancements. Just as they are coming to terms with e-mail (remember - it's only really been just over decade it's been available to most people) and this new technology comes along.

I want to raise awareness about RSS and get you to save a load of your time.

Fortunately, instead of me having to write all about RSS, the campaign for RSS Awareness already has.

If you are wondering what RSS is and what it can do for you (save time, for one!) check out the RSS Awareness Day website:

RSS Day

And by the way, you can sign up for my RSS feed over on the right hand side!

Popularity: 39% [?]

photo credit: MikeLove

Previously, I mentioned Niche Bot Classic, a standalone tool to check your rank with google.

I was recently perusing the plugins for Firefox and I came across another tool to help you determine your rank and you don't ever have to leave your browser.

It's called RankChecker.

You specify the keywords for the website you are looking to rank for and set it upon it's task and it'll return a few minutes later with the results.

You never have to leave your web browser or maintain a separate program. Upgrades are handled automatically in Firefox. Handy!

You can get it here: Rank Checker

Popularity: 40% [?]

photo credit: stu_spivack

I've done a bit of traveling around and eating out in various countries. These are some of the rules I've come up with in order to experience the best gastronomic experience possible. You won't shoot 100% with these rules, but you'll end up with a better ratio than without them.

6. Take recommendations from tour operators with extreme skepticism. These people usually get kickbacks for delivering people to certain resturaunts. They aren't interested in your dining experience, they're interested in the money they'll make. You may get some ok resturants, but rarely will they point you to the real gems.

5. Do not eat in a place where the garbage is next to the entrance. If they don't care about the initial impression they're giving, they won't care about what they're putting in your stomach.

4. Do not eat is a place only filled with tourists. The din of American accents may feel safe and familiar abroad but it won't improve your dining pleasure. You're in a new place to experience the 'real' atmosphere so get out!

3. Avoid places that "specialize" in more than one type of cuisine. A place doing Japanese, Chinese and Korean isn't going to do any of them justice. If you happen to end up in a place doing Japanese-American or Chinese-American cuisine only eat the stuff they really focus on. You should be able to tell from the decor (in these cases, Chinese or Japanese writing on the wall means you should choose those dishes.)

2. If it's dinner time (local dinner time) and the resturaunt is empty or nearly empty, move on. If the locals don't like it, there's a reason.

1. Never, ever, under no circumstances eat in a place with pictures of their food. If you cannot imagine what the food is like from the description, it isn't going to be any good. If you don't understand the language and you're in a hopping place (see the rule above) point to something that looks good and just say you'll have what they're having. If you're avoiding the tourist areas, this shouldn't be a problem.

If you have any additional recommendations, leave them in the comments. Happy eating!

Popularity: 67% [?]

photo credit: Karlina - as things are…

Want to create your first info product, but don't know where to get started?

Well, lots of people have been recommending doing interviews for your first product.

The question is where do you find people to interview?

Easy! RTIR.com.

The site lists a massive amount of people wanting to get their name out and willing to do interviews. You interview them and get all the interesting information from them about their area of expertise, you edit the program and start selling it. They get to plug their own product sometime during the presentation. It's a win-win situation.

The site covers a broad spectrum of topics including (but not limited to):

• Business
• Children
• Consumer Advice
• Crime, Law
• Education
• Family Issues
• Health, Fitness
• History
• Holidays
• How-To
• Music
• New Age
• Parenting
• Personal Finances
• Pets
• Politics
• Religion
• Self Help
• Technology
• Travel
• War, Military
• Women's Issues

Go to RTIR.com and click on "Find A Guest". Then choose the subject area and you'll see a list of personalities you can contact to request an interview with - email and phone number are usually given. Send off or call for a couple of dozen requests in your field and if you only get one response, you have the opportunity to create your first (or 7th or 15th) info product.

Once you have someone to do the interview with, generate a list of questions relevant to the expertise of the guest. Send them a copy of the best questions before hand. Set up a time and date to do the interview and make sure you're on time! When the time comes, record the call using Skype and PowerGramo Recorder. Ask your questions quickly and try not to surprise your guest with any unexpected questions. Once completed you can begin editing the program using Audacity, create a CD with MagicISO, Nero or Daemon Tools or just leave it as an mp3. If you have a CD upload it to Kunaki and you can start selling it from there immediately. Promote it on your blog or eBay and wait for your first sale. It's that easy!

It won't be perfect, but by having an expert in your field answering questions, you will ensure your product is chock full of great, useful information. Plus, it doesn't have to cost you a penny.

Popularity: 57% [?]