Congratulations to Spain on winning the Euro 2008 Cup yesterday - its first title in 44 years. It was a great tournament to watch and I am glad that Spain was able to come out on top. See the winning goal by Spain's Torres here.You can read coverage from the game below if you missed it for some reason:
Spain end heart-ache with deserved win at Euro 2008
Fernando Torres nets winner as Spain claims Euro 2008
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On Thursday June 26th, Jack-in-the-Box is giving away 2 free tacos if you bring in your gas receipt. This is great and all, but I wish they were giving away 4 of them or something more. It seems like a bit of a hassle to keep a gas receipt, then drive to their store - while wasting more gas than 2 tacos would actually cost, and then get 2 tacos.It is nice of them to give away free stuff though, so don't forget to go grab your free tacos this Thursday from Jack-in-the-Box.
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I just stumbled across a very interesting article about how it is possible to make lots of money through what is known as 'micro-deposits'. Most people who have PayPal, Google Checkout and other online funded accounts have encountered these 'micro-deposits' before. When you link one of these accounts to your bank account they ask you to verify that you are the account holder. One of the ways they do this is to make a few small deposits of a few pennies each into your bank account. You then look at your bank account and report the value of the deposits back the the service (PayPal, Google, etc) and they now are able to determine that you are, in fact, the owner of the attached bank account.
So Michael Largent, of Plumas Lake, California, in a nod to Mike Judge (who wrote Office Space and King of the Hill), setup accounts in names that included characters from King of the Hill and employed a technique where he repeated this 'verification funds transfer' over and over again, until he had over $50,000.
Judge's "Office Space" had a plot line where employees took fractions of pennies from each transaction processed in order to gain a much larger amount of money after many transactions had been processed in a similar way to what was carried out here.
It seems that Michael Largent thought he would be able to get away with his scam, however he did end up gettting arrested.
Check out this very interesing story over at Wired.
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I just found out that you can get a gift basket or any other Mother's day gifts and have them delivered the same day you order them in most cities!
This is great for me, because I am heading out to Shreveport, LA for the weekend to do some gambling and won't have time to do any shopping for my mom. Yes, I will be back on Sunday to spend time with her though - poker is fun, but I can't skip Mom's day for anything.
Good luck to all the rest of the procrastinators out there ;)
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However, a few things were on there that I didn't know about and there were also a few things that I didn't think were a big deal.
One of the things I found was that I had a 'charge off' of about $30 from Macy's for a credit card that I opened to buy an item and never even remembered opening this account. What happened was that Macy's didn't get my proper address when I opened the account and they were sending the bill and other account info to the wrong address. After doing this for a few months with no response from me, they closed the account and reported me to the credit agencies.
I had no idea at first that I even had opened this account and I also didn't have a clue as to how to investigate this and have it removed from my credit report. Since there were a few other things on my credit report that were hurting my score, I decided to contact a professional credit repair service which at first I was very apprehensive about. My fear was that this was one of the companies that you pay a settlement amount and then nothing really is solved.
However, GACS was able to investigate all negative issues on my credit report and sent letters to the agencies to have the innacurracies removed from my credit report. I was amazed that they were able to get these things removed for me and now - a year later, I have a GREAT credit score and am able to qualify for much better interest rates and programs for a home purchase.
I suggest that everyone run a credit report and if you find anything at all negative, give a credit restoration company a call and see how they can help. I know it has greatly helped me out and will save me a lot of money for a long time to come.
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Listen up affiliate marketers - I have found a niche that is sending me a bunch of traffic that I never even wanted and am sharing my secret with you to act on now.I recently wrote a post titled "Free iPhone Ringtones - Download or Create Your Own". I am a big fan of the iPhone and don't know what I would do without mine. I wrote the post to simply point out an awesome ringtone site that I found and use all the time now. This post was written about a month ago.
So what has happened since that post? I get over 100 visitors a day for people looking for iphone ringtones. The most interesting thing is that I get the majority of the traffic from the term "free iphone ringtones" for which I am currently ranked 18 in Google. This is the highest referring term I have ever had for a second page SERP ranking. Imagine if I was on the first page of search results - there would be tons of traffic coming my way.
There is also a pretty big longtail on this one. I am seeing referrals from the terms 'free ringtones for iphone' 'iphone ringtones free' 'create iphone ringtones' and a whole slew of other terms that also don't necessarily rank on page one of Google's results.
So my message to you, go setup an iPhone site and get some links to it. If my blog that isn't about the iPhone can pull in this level of traffic, then surely with some hard work and focus you can have a site that is making you some decent money.
Not sure how to do Niche Marketing - check out this awesome ebook, Nichework Marketing - The Step by Step Guide to Finding & Dominating Your Marketing Niche. This book was just written and released released from my friend Ben Fitts. It is geared towards network marketers but the information is accurate for any type of niche marketing on the Internet. I just got done reading it and it is the reason I even decided to share this iPhone niche with you, my readers, so check it out and let me know what you think.
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Does anybody know more about this type of investment and should I even waste my time researching it?
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Last year, I made a decision to leave my employer (MasterLink) and moved over to help launch Franklin-Spirko. After a year with FS, I am now moving over to Dallas Internet Marketing Firm Vizion Interactive. I will be in charge of Client Services, among other activities, and can't wait to get to know all of the clients better.It looks like I have found a company that I can call 'home' for a long time to come. Vizion is very focused on delivering measurable results to clients yet is able to maintain a balance of professionalism and fun in the workplace - things that are very important to me in my choice of employer.
I am lucky to join such a great team including Mark Jackson and Bill Hartzer and look forward to helping the company grow and achieve great results for our clients. Vizion offers offers search engine optimization, ppc management, web design, web development, email marketing and other interactive services to some very well known companies.
I will also be contributing to the Vizion blog so check it out and subscribe to the feed.
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I am a big fan of the Apple iPhone and have been enjoying everything about it. Yes, it does have a few bugs here and there, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.I have been using the default ringtones but I just came across a site that has thousands of them for free download. If you don't like what you find, you can also upload your mp3s and pick the part of the song that you want to use as your ringtone. Once it is created, you just download it straight into iTunes and then sync it to your iPhone. I am going ringtone crazy right now and am very glad I found this site. It takes about a total of 5 minutes to create a ringtone for your iPhone and have it ready to use.
If you have an iPhone - make sure to check out Audiko.
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If you are looking for some all purpose sites to submit your stories and news to, make sure to check this post on Social Bookmark Links that are Worth Building. It is a great place to start with your marketing efforts. But make sure you don't just rely on these - it takes a much larger effort to achieve top notch results. So take the time to find similar sites that cater to your niche.
If you ever have a question for me or just want to exchange war stories PLEASE feel free to add me to your IM at the following:
AIM - untmarkbarrera *at* aol.com
Yahoo - untmarkb *at* yahoo.com
MSN - searchengineexpert *at* hotmail.com
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While I was there, I got into a discussion with my sister-in-law about golf. My brother has played golf a few times but doesn't have any clubs of his own. His wife has never played but is interested in learning more about playing but she seemed to have 1,000 questions about getting started playing golf.
I took the time today to see if I could find a site that would teach her the basics of golf and I found the best site with golf tips for beginners. The site is run by a woman who calls herself the "Golf Virgin" which is exactly what my sister-in-law is, brand new to the sport. The site looks brand new and content is rolling out daily but I love the tips and answers that the Golf Virgin gives to her readers. Hopefully my sister-in-law will take the time to start asking the Golf Virgin her questions about how to play golf. She didn't even know how to keep score in golf so I am sure that this site is just what she needs.
If you are thinking about getting into golf, which every business person should think about for the networking opps, take the time to visit this beginners golf site.
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It was just announced yesterday that Toshiba will be discontinuing development of its HD-DVD players. This means that Sony's Blu-Ray is now standard for high definition movie players and discs. (More Blu-Ray talk here)I have been waiting for this war to end which was a similar battle that occurred between VHS and Betamax years ago. Our DVD player at home recently broke and I have been wanting to purchase a high-def disc player so now I finally know which one to buy!
However, if you are looking for a deal, the price of HD-DVD players is dropping and is below $100. There are still hundreds of movies that are available in HD-DVD format and I am sure their price will be dropping very soon too.
What will also be interesting to see is how Microsoft reacts to this announcement from Toshiba. Microsoft's Xbox 360 uses Toshiba's HD-DVD format and which will no longer be supported. Sony's Playstation 3 uses Blu-Ray (since Blu-Ray was developed by Sony). Microsoft may have to do some retooling of its platform or offer some type of discount on an external upgrade that is compatible with Blu-Ray discs. Who knows what they will do.
In the meantime, I am off to pick up a nice new Blu Ray player and begin my collection of movies.
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I have been involved in running half marathons for a couple of years even though I never saw myself getting involved in running. I have never run track or anything similar - soccer has been my main form of conditioning until a friend talked me into giving it a shot. Now I have the bug and enjoy the races that I get to participate in for both the personal challenge and for the great views and support of each host city.This Sunday, February 17, 2008, I will be running the AT&T Austin Half Marathon along with thousands of other runners. I can't wait for this trip to Austin as I always have a good time there. If any of my readers are in the Austin area, give me a shout and maybe we can meet for a few drinks. I will definitely need one after the race :)
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I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Belasco in Denver at the SMX Local / Mobile Search Conference. I had time to sit down at lunch with Mike, Andrew Shotland, Jenny Halasz, and a few other Internet marketers and it was a pleasure to learn from each of them. Recently I read on the web about Mike Belasco (or Mike the Internet Guy as many know him) and saw that he had formed seoOverflow - a Denver SEO firm. Mike has written for WebProWorld, his own blog, and even was named Best Local Search Blog of 2006 by Search Engine Journal. I contacted Mike via email to learn more about his new venture and the following is a quick interview from the email exchanges.
-Tell the readers a bit about yourself:
I live in Denver, Colorado but I am originally from Houston, Texas. My previous jobs have included working as a programmer developing web applications in Java, Cold Fusion and PHP. I love fly fishing, skiing, pro football, and SEO! I started Mike, The Internet Guy a few years ago with a focus on SEO and PPC for smaller local businesses.
-How was seOverflow started?
I noticed that most of my best business was coming from relationships I had developed with other companies involved in internet business such as web designers, marketing consultants, and other SEO firms. Mike, The Internet Guy was great but a somewhat limiting brand when thinking about growth and expansion. The seOveflow brand let me expand comfortably and appeal further to my best customers.
-What is the vision of the new company and are you focusing on certain aspects of online marketing?
The vision of the new company is to give our clients the ability to provide high quality SEO services which they can then use to improve their bottom line and increase their referrals without increasing staffing, or learning new skill sets. We basically take that "SEO bullet point" found on most web designers list of services and turn that into a revenue producing successful line of business for their company.
-Tell me more about your team:
My team really does add so much value to the services that I offered alone and it is very exciting for me.
Reid (Fenlaw) is our link builder and social media expert. He hasn't been in the industry long, but he has caught on fast. His "pop-culture" skills and wit make him an absolute master (link)baiter ;)
Chris (Lude) has been managing PPC campaigns for so long he typically on speaks in 25 character, or 70 character chunks. Seriously he is good and can take the most poorly built Adwords campaign and turn it into gold.
Lindsey (Kesel) has been writing SEO friendly copy for several years. She specializes in the legal and medical fields but can turn out copy for any industry like nobody's business.
So if you are a marketing or design firm, or looking for someone in the Denver area to handle your outsourced SEO - make sure you check out seOverflow (and don't forget to subscribe to their blog) because I am sure you will be pleased with the work Mike and his team do. They also handle overflow from other SEO companies, so the next time you want to blow off work and go fishing, give them a call!
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I have always been a big fan of using email marketing as a tool to communicate with prospects and to push product sales. I recently read a report that says only 16% of people will buy the first 1 or 2 times they see your product. 34% will buy after 3-4 exposures to your product. 34% will buy after 5 or 6 exposures. The remainder will buy after 7 or more exposures! So how do you expect to sell your product to someone who visited your web site for the first time?One of the easiest ways to build an email list is to use Squeeze Pages which tend to have much higer conversion rates than you will ever have with product sales. People are more likely to give you contact info than they are willing to buy your product or services the first time they visit your website. Anyone who gives you this info is ASKING YOU to communicate your value to them over an extended period of time.
My friend & co-founder of Marketing ICE, Ben Fitts, just let me know about a product he created that is a complete package to assist you in building a profitable mailing list! You get a quick start guide and ebook to help you out, and a bunch of templates and squeeze page (email capture page) designs.
One of the common problems internet marketers and affiliates face is that they don't have a mailing list and don't understand how easy it is to start one.
So instead of building a profitable email list they spend money on advertising and send it directly to the affiliate. They loose every prospect unless they buy.
Are you making this mistake?
Would you like to know how to build a profitable mailing list that you can promote your product to over and over again?
I highly urge you to check our Ben's site to learn simple step by step instructions on how to build a profitable mailing list, including sample email capture pages you can use to grow your own list!
Build a successful email list today!
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