‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
The network came alive with clicks from my mouse;
The articles were written, submitted with care,
In hopes that Google would soon be there;
The keywords were nestled all snug on the page,
When search engine robots leapt from their cage;
Finding my backlinks like breadcrumbs laid,
Tiny spiders on the path I had made.
When out on the net there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
Away to the browser I flew like a flash,
Spilling my coffee with a loud crash.
The moon on the edge of the MacBook Pro
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But organic search traffic, that much was clear.
Without any pay per click, so very frugal,
I knew in a moment it must be Google.
More rapid than eagles its coursers they came,
And it whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Sphinn! now, Digg! now, Twitter and Stumble!
On Squidoo, on Reddit! On Friendfeed and Tumblr!
To the top of the page! To the number one spot!
Secret algorithms, show us what’s hot!"
The sweat and the tears, the niches I’d lost,
Domains unused, keywords tossed;
The hours of staring at Samurai red;
Those days are over, or so Google said.
E-books and newsletters and membership sales,
And a shiny new list brimming with emails.
Laying my finger aside of my nose,
I gave a quick nod, from the chair I rose.
I skipped to the kitchen with my empty mug,
Stopping on the way to give the family a hug.
I whispered to my kids as I held them tight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."
Lynn Terry Tells All – Starting a Free Online Business!
September 2nd, 2008 Annie Posted in Internet Marketing 5 Comments »
.jpg "Lynn Terry Tells All Starting a Free Online Business!")
As you may already know, I’ m a huge fan of Lynn Terry and her internet marketing blog, ClickNewz! I can’t remember how I found her, but I have been reading her blog for a long time, and just recently started participating in her weekly webinars. Lynn has been online for more than a decade, and has a refreshing no-bullshit approach. The thing that gets me about Lynn is that she genuinely wants to share the knowledge that she has put to use to become a successful online entreprenuer. Internet marketing is full of people who talk the talk, but Lynn is one of a few folks who actually walks the walk. When she makes a buck from something she promotes, you’ll know it. When she doesn’t, you’ll know it. Speaking of which…
Disclaimer time: Lynn is testing a pay-per-post social media marketing idea and I will probably be getting paid a small gratuity for this post. I told her that if she didn’t pay me, I would write it anyway. So there – I really showed her, huh!
She wrote an article this weekend that I really want to share with you. In Starting a Free Online Business, Lynn talks about going to lunch with some gals who she hooked up with on MySpace. Lynn knows how to use MySpace. I don’t. The only fun thing I’ve discovered about MySpace is a typing game. I’m a crazy-fast typist and crazy-competitive by nature, so the game really hits my sweet spot. But I digress…
So Lynn meets up with these ladies and starts explaining some of the ways you can make money online: Selling your own products or services; and promoting other people’s products and services. The latter idea appealed to Lynn’s new friends, and to me as well, because it involves passive income. Lynn is quick to point out that you can’t get up one day and decide to start getting passive income:
"To clarify, when I say passive I dont mean that you wont have to work at it. I think we’ve all kind of figured out by now that “get rich quick schemes” dont really work. And we were discussing real, legitimate ways to make consistent income online. "
That’s the secret in a nutshell, folks – you have to work at it. It takes a lot of work to create a situation where you can make money while you eat bon-bons by the pool. So much work, in fact, that a lot of people simply turn back to traditional ways of making money. We all know how to go to the office for 8-24 hours a day and bring home a paycheck. Lynn wants to teach you something different and she goes to great lengths to explain it to you. If you think you’re too new at this to understand what she’s teaching, you’re wrong. Lynn know a lot of technical mumbo jumbo but thankfully, she keeps that stuff to herself. Instead, she just tells you what you need to know, in very simple terms. Got a question? She’ll answer it. Personally.
The archives on Lynn’s site walk you through every step of setting up your own online business. I could happily spend days digging around in her site. However, the post I mentioned earlier, Starting a Free Online Business, has links to all the necessary "first steps" of creating that business. She also links to some other very well-known tutorials by Jeremy Palmer about selling other people’s products (a.k.a affiliate marketing). This single article has everything you need to get started. I hope you enjoy it, and getting to know Lynn, as much as I do!
P.S. Here’s the money part of the post: LYNN ROCKS! LYNN ROCKS! LYNN ROCKS!
P.P.S. Note to self: Charge per color.
Read This and Win a New iPhone!!
June 25th, 2008 Annie Posted in Internet Marketing No Comments »
I admit I was tired of hearing about the new iPhone release. I don’t have the “old” iPhone and I generally live a full life with my crappy cell phone at my side. My cell phone doesn’t even pick up a signal at Denver International Airport … something that drives me crazy when I travel; and that I completely forget about once I’m home. I don’t make enough calls to have a monthly plan. As much as I love tech toys, I can’t get excited about cell phones. Maybe it’s because I’m not really that verbal. I’m more of a writer. I’d be perfectly happy with duct tape on my mouth and a keyboard in my hand (come to think of it, that would make my husband delirious with joy).
HOWEVER one of the blogs I read on internet marketing is partnering with a marketing firm to give away a new iPhone. And if I post about their contest, I get not one, not two, but FIVE entries to win this iPhone. And here’s the best part – I don’t want the iPhone for it’s calling features. I want to use the itty-bitty keyboard feature and Twitter while I’m out and about! Of course the idea is that more people will enter the contest if I post about it – but we all know you are one of ten people (including my relatives) that read this blog right now, so I’m not too worried about the competition. Oh, the joys of a new blog!
