Archive for the ‘John Chow’ Category
Is The Future Anti-Social Media?
A few things to tell you about today…
First…
“Social Media” is all the rage everywhere you turn. On TV. In Magazines. Newspapers. Movies. And more. You’ve probably heard “Facebook” and “Twitter” so many times now in your life that you’re probably tired of hearing about them.
But the big question is… is using Social Media really good for you and your business? I think for most entrepreneurs the answer is NO.
At least “no” because of the way most people are using it. I’ve always said that Twitter and Facebook are great for SYNDICATION efforts. There are some great ways to auto-publish links to your articles, blog posts, etc. with them. And that is definitely something you want to be doing.
But I see so many entrepreneurs spending hours upons hours of their time ‘chatting’ with people on Facebook or Twitter. Somehow they feel that because they are using those sites, and because the media is so ‘big’ on Social Media, that somehow their business is benefiting from it.
In many cases, it’s THE OPPOSITE. Spending hours of time on Facebook and Twitter is most likely LOSING MONEY for folks.
In most cases, the traffic that can be generated from those sites is often very untargeted or very unqualified. Facebook Ads is the exception and I highly recommend you test with it and use it to generate targeted, profitable leads if you can. That’s where you can buy ads that run across Facebook based on user demographics and interests.
If someone takes the same amount of time they spend on Facebook or Twitter and spends it setting up ad campaigns on Google Adwords, or creating some targeted, highly optimized content for their site, they will make more money in their business. I guarantee it.
Something to think about.
Again, I DO think those sites can help your business, but you shouldn’t be spending more than 5% of your “business time” on them.
I challenge you to use “Anti-Social Media” for 2 weeks. (Or longer if you can do it.) Don’t use Facebook or Twitter at all. Put all of your time into SEO efforts, setting up AdWords campaigns, and writing articles. You’ll be surprised how much faster your business grows.
The second thing to tell you about today…
Is an update on ME. 
A lot of people have been asking me about my travels and my ‘experiment’ with minimalism. After traveling non-stop for 2 months, I can tell you one thing for sure…
IT’S TIRING.
It’s rough to go from place to place and constantly be on the move. It’s like it’s hard to ‘relax’ for very long because you know your current surroundings are only temporary.
And being without a “home base” of some sort, I believe, works against you mentally. Your mind is always aware that you’re just a perpetual nomad and in ‘motion.’ I think the key to being able to perpetually travel is to stay in certain places for long periods of time. Even setting up a little “home base” and then travel to and from that point.
What’s up next for me is to spend some more time in MY OWN COUNTRY. There are some great cities in the US that I want to experience. I also want to be in the US to spend more time with my family. I’m realizing more and more that that’s what is truly important in life. (Yes, obvious, I know.)
As many of my long-time customers know, my brother died about 5 years ago. And not a week or so goes by without being reminded that I wish I had spent more time with him while he was still alive. And I know that one day (even, though, I definitely don’t like to think about it) I’ll probably have the same thoughts about the time I spent with my parents.
So along with a lot of other areas that I want to have more balance with, spending time with my family is one of them.
I definitely still have lots of destinations on the “To Do” list and I still plan on getting to them all — but I have already come to realize that I need a more balanced way to continue to travel or I will reach a major point of BURN-OUT.
As for the minimalism stuff, I’m still a huge believer in it. Not necessarily in only having a few shirts and outfits, etc. but just not having tons of STUFF in my life that can become a distraction. I’m sure that I’ll be acquiring some new things as I set up a little home base, but I’m definitely never going back to the life I once had in regards to owning an overkill of stuff.
The one thing I’ve really experienced so far on my little ‘journey’ is getting some perspective. I’ve had plenty of time to think about my life and focus on what’s really important — I’ve also thought a lot about past choices and how things may or may not have been different.
More than anything, I’ve realized the value of BEING PRESENT. That life really is short and it’s passing by in the blink of an eye. And I’ve been doing an interesting “Time Machine” mental exercise (you should try it)…
Whatever you are doing today, or with your days right now, imagine eventually being 10 years into the future. And imagine being able to get into a Time Machine and visit TODAY (10 years earlier). Would you want to be doing whatever you were doing then? Or would you wish you had spent those days doing something else?
Like not to harp on the Facebook/Twitter stuff, but think of a day in the recent past when you caught yourself ‘surfing’ for several hours on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You know, when you were just chatting it up with people, etc. and you really didn’t do much to make more money in your business that day – heck, we’ve all been there and done that many times.
Don’t you wish you could have a ‘do over’ and get that essentially worthless day back?
Something to think about.
And if you have a dream to start a certain type of business or to do something you’ve been thinking about for a long time, DO IT. Don’t wait. Just go for it NOW. Often times the “worst case scenario” if it happens when pursuing that dream isn’t all that bad — so it’s definitely worth the risk.
Since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed of having a video game company. And now, after putting it off for more than 25 years, I’m finally going for it. And even if it ends up not having the same success as other businesses I’ve had in the past, I really don’t think I’ll care. Because I know I’ll be a lot HAPPIER and excited about it. And at the end of the day, that’s really what matters.
So I challenge YOU… don’t wait. Do whatever you’ve always wanted to do TODAY — or at least get started with ‘it’ in some small way that you can accommodate in your life right now.
Yours For Online Profits,
John Reese
How To Outsource All Your Video Work
If you’re like me, you’ll know how frustrating the whole online video production process can be. There’s just so much to learn, and so much to do, and to be honest, it can do your head in if you let it get to. However, it doesn’t have to be that way.
My friend, Gideon Shalwick, will be running a brand new LIVE webinar where he shows you exactly what he does to outsource most of his online video work.
Gideon tells me that he’ll be revealing a secret technology that him and his outsourcing expert
friend discovered – a technology that can speed up your whole video production process to levels most people only dream about. You can find out more information about the webinar here.
The date the webinar will take place is this Tuesday, September 14, 8pm EDT (USA)
Make sure you watch Gideon’s whole video because he reveals a pretty shocking surprise at the end that you won’t want to miss.
Click Here To Register for Gideon Shalwick Outsource Video Webinar
Deal of the Day – Get The Ultimate Footer Ad For $37
Graham Cox, the creator of the Ultimate Footer Ad has sent me a coupon code allowing you to get the program for only $37. The Ultimate Footer Ad is a script that helps you to increase newsletter sign ups. It can also be used to advertise whatever you want. The ad slides up from the bottom of your site and into view after a predetermined time that you set. The ad works really well because it’s almost impossible to not notice it.
While the Ultimate Footer Ad can be viewed as somewhat intrusive, it’s no where near as intrusive as the Aweber lightbox hover sign up form that takes over the entire screen. Bloggers who don’t want to run the hover box because of its intrusive nature will find the Ultimate Footer Ad to be just right. Best of all, the sign up from the Ultimate Footer Ad is almost as good as the lightbox.
You’ve heard me talk about the importance of building a mailing list. I have made over $4,000 in one day with my list. Building my newsletter list is the number one thing I work on and anything that can help me increase sign ups is going to get reviewed and tested. Here is a video of the Ultimate Footer Ad in action.
Use Coupon Code AFF37 To Get The Ultimate Footer Ad for $37
The Ultimate Footer Ad normally sells for $47 and it’s a great value at that price. However, between now and this Friday, you can get the Ultimate Footer Ad for only $37 by enter coupon code AFF37 at checkout. Alternatively, you can just click the link in this post as it has the coupon code hard coded into the URL.
Try Ultimate Footer Ad For 365 Days – Risk Free!
Ultimate Footer Ad comes with one year money back guarantee. Yep, you read that right. Download Ultimate Footer Ad and try it out for 1 full year. If your ad click rates haven’t at least doubled by then, just contact Graham for a quick, hassle-free refund, no questions asked.
The Ultimate Footer Ad is a fantastic product and is backed up with a fantastic guarantee. If you’re serious about building your list (or promoting whatever you want) you need the Ultimate Footer Ad. The price shouldn’t even be a consideration. If you can’t make way more than $37 from the increased conversions, then this business clearly isn’t for you.
Click Here To Get The Ultimate Footer Ad for $37
Come Spend a Weekend on The Beach with Me
In less than two weeks time, I will be heading to ThinkTank in San Diego. This is a diamond mind networking event put on by Dr. David Klein (DK) and is attended by the who’s who of Internet marketing. ThinkTank is NOT a conference. Everyone knows that the real value of going to a major trade show is for the networking you do at the after parties. Well, think of ThinkTank as a three day long after party. It’s held on the beach of Del Mar. There’s food, entertainment and open bar. It’s an event where the really successful Internet people learn and share ideas with each other.
Everyone attending ThinkTank must sign an NDA (non disclosure agreement) agreeing not to reveal anything discussed during the three days. The only blog posts you’ll be seeing from me about it will be from the drinking and partying.
Everyone Attending ThinkTank Pays To Attend
ThinkTank is invite only and cost $3,000. For most, the price will seem simply too high. However, the successful person who knows the value of spending three days networking with the likes of Shoemoney, Neil Patel, Jonathan Volk, Andy Liu, Amish Shah, Zac Johnson and others like them will find this the value of the century. I know that I will make at least a 10 time return on investment by attending.
Normally, the people on the attendee list can get into any event for free because of who they are (some are even paid to be there). This says a lot about the value of ThinkTank when a guy like Amish Shah, who made $6 million in a week with his last product launch, pays to attend ThinkTank.
ThinkTank is limited to just 50 people. DK keeps the numbers low so all attendees will have time to network with everyone. Here’s the bad news. There are only ten invites available for new attendees and DK has allocated only four invites for John Chow dot Com readers.
If you can see the value of spending of three days with me and the biggest names in Internet Marketing and being able to ask us anything you want, with great food, and drinks on the beach, then I highly recommend you go and apply for an invite right now because it will be gone if you wait. I look forward to seeing you at ThinkTank!
CLICK HERE RESERVE YOUR INVITE TO THINKTANK
Dot Com Pho – Stupid Human Tricks Edition
I’m back in Vancouver for my fist Dot Com Pho since moving to Seattle. Of course, everyone got a big laugh out of that since I moved to Seattle only 6 days ago so I didn’t really miss any Vancouver Pho. While I like to say I came back to Vancouver just for Dot Com Pho, the truth is I came back for a family wedding (one of my cousins is getting married).
This episode of Dot Com Pho is a bit longer than most. However, I think you’ll enjoy it more because we got into a bunch of stuff that we’ve never done before. Stuff like stupid human trick. We also to got meet Dot Com Pho’s newest and youngest member and I got a real hand written letter in the mail from a reader! Enjoy the episode and tune in next week to see where I end up.
Join Louis Yagera and Win Binaural Beats Technology
The people who choose to read John Chow dot Com come from all corners of the Earth and from all walks of life. Many of them are very interested in the world of Internet marketing, but that doesn’t mean that their other interests and hobbies are necessarily alike.
Some may like fast cars and others may prefer haute couture. Louis Yagera approaches an entirely different area of interest on this blog and, over the course of this review, we’ll take a look at what he has to offer.
Be All That You Can Be
Louis Yagera says that this philosophy in life is comprised of five different mantras and variations of these cycle through the main header image area on his blog.
In the screenshot above, for instance, he tells us that you can be all that you can be. This relates back to one part of his life philosophy: “Be as best as I can be.” The grammar isn’t exactly perfect, but you get the idea. He also says, “I am THAT I am” and that “life is a journey” and you should “enjoy the ride.”
His blog isn’t technically about Internet marketing. Instead, he focuses mostly on the law of attraction, meditation techniques, and — most recently — the power of “binaural beats technology,” possibly to achieve “theta states.”
Who Is Louis Yagera?
Currently residing in Valencia, Spain, Louis Yagera describes himself as a “pretty normal guy.”
He has a great interest, as mentioned, in the law of attraction and he says that mastering this early as a teenager helped him “find my ideal job as a software programmer” and “live in the area of my choice,” even though it’s a “nice place that I thought I could not afford.
Beyond the law of attraction, Louis also expresses great interest in progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, meditation, and other techniques. You’ll find an almost spiritual-like tone through much of the content on his blog.
Writing Style and Comprehension
It’s possible that I’m coming from a slightly different perspective, since I make my career as a freelance writer, but I found that Yagera’s style to be somewhat unclear.
Take the blog post above as an example. This post is meant to be an introduction to the site, as it is titled “If You Are New to this Blog.” I think part of it has to do with sentence structure, since there are many run-on sentences.
Writing style aside, those interested in meditation and achieving certain mental states may find the information provided on LouisYagera.com to be of some value. It is worth noting that while the publication date of each post doesn’t seem to appear in the post themselves, they are included in the permalink structure. I’d personally have the date visible somewhere in the post.
I’d also recommend trying to shorten some of the blog post titles, as the resulting URLs can be very long. This could be little more than a matter of personal preference, but there could be some SEO ramifications as well.
Enter to Win High Quality Binaural Tracks
Possibly in preparation for today’s review, Louis lined up some stuff to give away as part of a contest. Yup, it has to do with binaural beats again.
The kicker is that his contest won’t just have one winner. He’s selecting a total of eleven winners and they’ll be given a range of content that includes binaural beats technology.
The grand prize winner gets Gammadrone MP3s, Deltadream MP3s, and Insight meditation MP3s. Three other winners get a Gammadrone CD and the remaining seven get the Insight Meditation MP3. With the exception of the single CD, all the prizes are digital. I guess that’s how he can manage to have eleven winners.
The winners will be chosen on September 15. To enter, sign up for Louis Yagera’s newsletter on his site.
How to Build a Successful Blog Business
Developing and running a successful blog business can be a monumental challenge. It’s hard work, just like anything else, and you’ll likely stumble your way through more than a few mistakes along the way. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had something to guide your way?
Well, you do. Collis Ta’eed is the guy behind Envato and he’s sharing everything you need to know in his new book, How to Build a Successful Blog Business. Available now through Rockable Press, this 330-page book serves as the subject of today’s review.
Blogging for Profit
There is a distinct difference between hobby bloggers and those who want to develop their blogs into real businesses. This book is clearly targeted at the latter group.
It has already received considerably positive feedback from such big names in the industry as Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse. For example, Chris Garrett is saying that you “need to get this now” if you’re “serious about blogging as a real business.”
You also have to recognize that Collis Ta’eed comes from a place of significant authority. He has developed several blogs that not only generate considerable traffic, but impressive revenue too.
A Comprehensive Guide to Blogging Business
You may have already had the opportunity to read Make Money Online by me and John Chow, but that book focused mostly on how you would develop a blog where you are the main contributor.
With How to Build a Successful Blog Business, the material covers just about every aspect of running a blog as a business. This 330-page book includes sections on brand creation, staffing, business structure, content planning, monetization, and long term strategies.
Perhaps of even greater interest are the three case studies that close the book. In these chapters, Collis describes exactly how he built and developed FreelanceSwitch, Psdtuts+, and AppStorm.
Writing Style, Comprehension, and Accessibility
It’s going to take you some time to get through the over 300 pages of content, but the information is all presented in a clear, systematic, and easy-to-understand manner. Consider this snippet from the first chapter.
Opportunities in blogging also arise from the many niches and topics that are still wide open. If you walk into any bookstore and look through the myriad magazines that line the racks, you’ll find there are audiences interested in reading about everything from sewing to tattoos, boating to cooking, movies to shopping. Can you name the blog to read on tattoos? How about a great blog about boating? Think you can find one?
The style is not unlike the “blogging voice” that you find on many of Collin’s sites around the net. It’s casual, but informative. You will find, though, that many of the pages are very text-heavy.
As a freelance writer myself, I was particularly interested in the FreelanceSwitch case study. Most of it was text, but Collis did include several screenshots (e.g., Google Analytics) and charts (e.g., revenue over time) to help illustrate his points.
Blogging as a business can be daunting and intimidating for many, but How to Build a Successful Blog Business outlines everything you need to know in a way that is easy not only to digest, but also to implement in your own endeavors.
Buy the E-Book or the Paperback
Anyone who is seriously considering a career not “just” as a blogger, but as the owner and manager of a blog business should buy this book. You’ll learn about hiring freelancers, setting up your accounting, developing traffic, increasing your income and so much more.
If you want instant access to the material, you can buy the e-book version for $39. This comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. If you prefer the dead tree edition, the $47 paperback is printed and shipped through Lulu.com.
CLICK HERE TO BUY HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BLOG BUSINESS
Living The Dot Com Waterfront Lifestyle
Yes, the rumors were true. I have moved away from West Vancouver and relocated to our friendly neighbor to the south. Many will question why I would leave the number 4 city in the world for the number 4 city in the USA. I might get into that in a future post but for now, it’s enough to say that I can live the Dot Com Lifestyle anywhere in the world.
I haven’t settle into the new place yet. There’s still a lot to do and stuff to move before I can hold the Dot Com house warming party. For now, I’ll give you a few teaser pics of my new waterfront crib.
BTW – I’ll be back in Vancouver this weekend so it looks like last week’s Dot Com Pho won’t my be last after all. I hope to see you at Happy Pho this Saturday!
Sally is liking her new tree house but she’s scare to climb up the ladder.
You’re Really Missing Out – Aweber Email RSS Subscriptions
Jonathan Volk wrote a guest blog post on this blog call You’re Missing Out – Email RSS Subscriptions. In it, he explained why you’re missing out if you don’t offer the RSS to Email option found in Feedburner. Most bloggers just turn on the RSS option and don’t do anything with the Email. I happen to be one of those bloggers who leave the Feedburner Email option off and I can tell you that I am not missing out on anything. In fact, I would say you’re missing out by using it and not the solution I use.
A Better Solution – Aweber Blog Broadcast
The main problem with the Feedburner RSS to Email option is that it only sends RSS updates to your subscribers. It cannot send them anything else. The entire point of getting a reader’s email is so you can send him/her whatever you want. Fortunately, Aweber offers a much better solution than Feedburner.
By using the Aweber Blog Broadcast feature (one of the many features Aweber offers), you can offer the same service as Feedburner’s RSS to Email and be able to send subscribers additional content that is outside of your blog posts. Aweber Blog Broadcast takes the contents of your RSS feed and turns it into a ready to send newsletter. You can set when the broadcast goes out – by certain days of the week or by number of posts.
Instead of offering your readers the option to subscribe to your blog via RSS or Feedburner RSS to Email, you replace the Feedbruner RSS to Email with Aweber Blog Broadcast. The net effect will still be the same. A reader subbing to email by Feedburner or Aweber will both get RSS updates from your blog. The big difference is Aweber is a complete email marketing solution allowing you to email additional contents/offers to your subscribers.
When readers subscribe to Feedburner RSS to Email, they get added to the Feedburner counter. When readers sign up to Aweber Blog Broadcast, they get added to the Feedburner counter as well, so you don’t have to worry about not having all your subscribers counted. If social proof is important to you, this is a great feature.
Here is a screen cast on how to set up an Aweber Blog Broadcast.
The only downside to the Aweber solution is it cost money while Feedburner is free. However, given all the advantages Aweber offers over the Feedburner solution, it’s money well spent. Aweber offers a $1 trial. Try Aweber for the first month for only $1. The trial account is the same as a normal account. You can set up unlimited list and unlimited auto responders. If after a month, you find that the solution is not for you, send Aweber an email and they won’t charge next month. They’ll even give you your $1 back! It’s 100% risk free and one of the reasons I recommend them so much.
With the Blog Broadcast feature of Aweber, you can offer your readers the option of subscribing to your RSS by Email and you’ll also be building your mailing list. And we all know, the money is in the list!
Click To Test Drive Aweber for $1.00
You’re Missing Out – Email RSS Subscriptions
What would you say your main goal of blogging is?
Is it to make money, to get an audience, to share your thoughts, etc? Interesting enough, nearly all of those goals center around 1 key factor. Visitors.
One of the main ways that people get visitors and keep them coming back is through use of an RSS feed. All major blogging platforms have an RSS feed – and many use a service such as feedburner.com to even further enhance that feed.
When people are subscribed to your RSS feed, you instantly can deliver your content to them and they’ll most likely come back to your website over and over. So no matter what your goal, RSS subscribers is one of the ways to get that goal.
I have been blogging for 3.5 years now and there is one REALLY simple thing that people don’t do that makes them miss out on a bunch of RSS subscriptions.
In fact, 75% of the time, I go to a new blog that has great posts… I go to subscribe to their RSS and I end up not subscribing because… they don’t have email subscriptions enabled.
Email subscriptions is a REALLY simple and commonly used feature in feedburner that is not enabled by default.
The thing to remember is that quite a few people still do not have an RSS reader… but [nearly] everyone has email.
Check out the small difference that having the email subscription enabled does.
By enabling subscriptions via email, you open yourself up to a whole new group of “non-techy” people.
To Enable RSS Via Email:
Enabling RSS via email is really simple. First you have to set yourself up with a feedburner (now owned by Google) account. Once you have that setup, click the publicize link, and then click on the email subscription link. Then click enable.
Doing so will now enable your readers to subscribe to your posts by having them delivered to their email.
Part of getting exposure comes down to making every option available for your visitors to become RSS subscribers and repeat visitors. This is a very commonly overlooked option that has resulted in a nice increase in subscribers for my blog about making money online.
This is a guest post written by Jonathan Volk. Jonathan blogs about how to make money online and has a free affiliate marketing guide where he shows you the techniques he has used to generate over $5,000,000 in affiliate commissions! He also has a great Facebook Ads Guide that I reviewed.