I did a call the other night about  blogging, and one of the questions I was asked was, “How can I tell if someone else has already used the material I bought from an outsourcer?”  I didn’t have a good web software or other source for that, and it bothered me. I’m known for having the answers, and when I’m asked a question I can’t answer fuly, well… I can’t rest until I find an answer and provide it.

What I’ve done to track down dupe content in the past is just to grab a unique phrase from whatever it is, and Google it. You’d be surprised at how Google can catch stuff like that. But, it’ s certainly not a foolproof solution.

Today, I found a site called “CopyScape,” and it’s not a hidden resource. In fact, Google partners with them to find dupe content on the Web. You can run a free search there for any web page, or you can pay $0.05 per search for content pieces. That means, you can do lots of searches very inexpensively. You can also monitor your content for folks, who might be pulling it right from your site.  That’s pretty sweet, if you worry about that sort of thing.

It’s happened to me. Someone decided to rip off my blog verbatim, and put it on his own blog without proper attribution. Grr. As a professional writer, that really pisses me off!

But I’m lucky with outsource content. I have two really great outsource people that I trust.

But if I were buying a lot of articles from Elance.com, or one of the other outsource sites, from people that I didn’t know, you can betcha I’d be using CopyScape to check every piece before I paid good money for recycled articles. You should, too.

I’ve been at this business for almost 6 years now, and have accumulated a ton of useful knowledge. I’m grateful for that, and just absolutely LOVE learning stuff — new stuff all the time. And I’m very lucky because working for Overcome Everything gets me lots of cool info that I couldn’t afford myself. It’s really a super perk of the job.

So, with all this stuff in my brain, I’m asked to do teleseminars often.  I love that! Teleseminars are absolutely the best way to get people interested in who you are and what you know that can help them to move their businesses forward. You gain their respect, trust, and because of those things, you make money. People buy from people they know and trust.

The best of all situations, of course, if having your own teleseminar series. Here’s a link for you: http://easyseotricks.com/13th . I can attest to the fact that this system works, and that it gives you a MUCH bigger list than the one you have now.

The thing is that you can’t be shy. Shy will NOT work in business. So, get over yourself, right now! Anyone can use the strategies that the link above gives you… anyone.

So, last night, I did a teleseminar with someone who started out as a customer of mine and Telman’s and he quickly became a friend. His name is Rick Burdo, and he’s a disabled Veteran. He can’t even type because of his disability, and so does all of his pages with voice recognition software. It’s amazing! He’s really struggled through a LOT to put his whole system together, and now, he’s actually doing it.

What’s your hurdle?

You don’t have to know everything about your topic. All you have to do is assemble a group of experts who do. Then, you interview them. Simple, right? It’s not that tough getting experts in your niche, either, because they want to sell their stuff to your list and get all the cool respect, trust, etc. from new people that they’ve not met before.

Then, when you put all of the interviews together, you have a product, and… it’s a great product because of all the information that the experts have put forth. It has nothing to do with you or your expertise! It’s how Tellman built a multi-million dollar busines and then, he was able to hire me and 14 other folks! So, now, how enticing are teleseminars, huh?

I’m telling you… they’re the BOMB!

Want to know the particulars? Check this out: http://easyseotricks.com/13th Believe me… it’s amazing what one simple teleseminar series can do for your business and your wallet. Amazing.

Something that comes up time and again in calls, in email, on the phone with clients is that they can’t get started because there’s so much stuff coming at them all the time from people whose lists they’ve joined. They’re overwhelmed and unhappy and why aren’t they making all the big bucks they’ve been promised?

OK… I get that. I’ve been in this game for almost 6 years now, and I felt the same way at the beginning when I was a newbie. But I wanted to learn. I wanted to be the smartest and best damned Internet marketer on the planet, and I wanted to make all that money and have that Ferrari – Beachside – Buy Anything You Want, Anytime lifestyle, too. It was all so much fun and I figured it would all just gel in my brain one day.

And it did.

But though I knew a LOT of stuff (and still do, BTW), want to know how much good it did me?

NONE!

I was trying this and that. I had four blogs going. I was driving traffic ineffectively, and though I knew a ton of stuff, I wasn’t making ANY money! It was frustrating and time consuming and I couldn’t look away for an instant because well… I was sure that I would get the big break any second, and I really needed the extra money, and well… it just never happened.

In my case, I was lucky. Tellman happened, and my IM life was transformed.

Want to know how?… Come back on Monday and I’ll tell ya.

But, only if I get at least 10 good comments. (No “nice post” comments will do. Tell me your thoughts or what you’re feeling about all this right now!) Make a comment and the secret will be revealed. Otherwise…  Hmm… I guess you’ll just have to keep being overwhelmed.

The question that gets asked most by new Internet marketers is, “What niche should I be in?” I think. They have ideas about what they’d like to do, but are concerned about whether or not it will be a “good” niche, and rightly so. Selling clothes for racoons probably isn’t a great idea.

What to do?

Research.

The first thing to do is to think about what you really like to do and what you can work on for hours and hours without becoming tired or bored. What’s your passion? That’s really important. If your heart isn’t in it, guess what, neither will your mind be.

So, your first step is to sit down and to make a list of things you really enjoy doing, no matter what those things might be. It’s amazing that there are markets online for some things you’d think will never sell. And then again, things you think are a sure fit might totally suck. Or, they might be seasonal. Or, they might be so over.

Once you have your list, take your search for a niche over to http://SEOBook.com. Plug each word into the search bar and see how many searches a day are happening in Google. If you find that 3,000 to 10,000 searches are being performed each month, you’re on the right track. But that’s just the first step.

Move over to the column that says “G Trends,” and see whether the trend for whatever you’re searching is rising, falling or consistent. Rising and consistent is good. Falling isn’t.

Then, move over again to “Google TE” and see how much people are playing for clicks at Google AdWords. Anything over $1 is promising.  Anything under that is iffy.

So, there are some general rules of thumb. SEOBook, also has a great blog. Peter D, who  wrote “How to Spot Keyword Trends,”  pulls Twitter into the mix, and some other factors that you can track to decide on a good niche to be in.

The whole idea is… do it! Why waste a lot of time working on things that nobody is interested in? You’ll lose time and money chasing something that just won’t work.

If you’re not a big name in the Internet marketing world, it may not be as easy as you like to get subscribers for your list. Here are some ways to encourage people to sign up…

Email marketing is the most powerful tool you have! So, you need to improve the chances of converting with the people that do want to buy your stuff.

Join the ListBuilding Club

Have you ever had a great idea for a website, but just couldn’t find a great domain? I have. When I opened Blogging4Boomers, well… every freakin’ domain with “blog” in the universe has been taken. Even Tellman couldn’t help me to come up with something awesome and he’s like the most creative person I’ve ever known. We even got Jodi into it and nothing. She’s just as creative as Tellman, but even with all that incredible brain power behind me, it was really hard.

One of our ListBuilding 411 customers asked about buying domains today for a very special project that he’s doing, and I had to tell him to buy a bunch of domains. Coming up with those could be really hard, and as I thought about it, I realized that there had to be some sites online that would help do the job.

What happened?

In messing around with these, I actually found a domain I wanted and bought it. Be looking for WeirdNewsWeblog.com in the near future. I’ve always wanted to do a blog like that because that’s my specialty. When I was writing, I was always coming up with these obscure facts that nobody much knew and loved to use them for the WOW! factor in writing. I want people to go, “Wow! That’s an interesting tidbit.” So, this will be a lot of fun for me.

But back to these sites that will make domain naming a bit easier for you:

Dot-o-mater.com

This site will allow you to choose terms from column “A”  and terms from column “B.” Then, the site mashes the words together in their various forms. You select the domain potentials you like and it sends you to Dotster.com to check the availability. Kind of kicky.

Bust a Name

Here, you put in a bunch of words germane to your niche. I tried horses, bridles, tack, and it came back with horsebridles.com. Not bad! Then, it sends you right to GoDaddy to buy it. Sweet! Hmm… a great way to be a GoDaddy affiliate. Hope they are.

Stuck Domains

This is where I picked up my new domain just testing the site out. VERY cool. You put in a word and it comes back with a pile of expired domains. Many of them already have backlinks.  This is great because you could find a cool domain with a bunch of backlinks and have SEO traction before you even set up the site. Woo-hoo!

Anyway, those are some sites where you can create domains you might not think of on your own. Have fun… Just don’t buy too many!

So, I was on a call today for the ListBuilding Club Ferrari Contest with Shawn Casey and he gave some really fantastic information about joint ventures.

His main point was, don’t just contact people to ask them to do something for you… Do something for them first, which is great advice, of course. And he went on to tell listeners everything about joint venturing like how to approach people, how to know if they will be good partners, how to get information about partners, and how to make joint ventures work well. Killer stuff. But then, who didn’t know that, right?

But then, he asked if I had anything to add, and well… how can you possibly improve on Shawn’s advice, right?

But then, I remembered what Tellman told me a long time ago, and that was that all joint ventures don’t include people with bigger lists mailing out for you, though that’s usually what new marketers think that joint venturing is all about.

The other side of that coin is where you joint venture because you need help. Maybe you aren’t a technical person and need help setting things up. Or, maybe you suck at copywriting, while someone else might be killer. I mean, there are so many reasons why you can partner up with people.

As Shawn mentioned today, a joint venture is where two or more people partner in business to achieve a mutual goal.

Sure, ad exchanges are joint ventures, or holding teleseminars for each other is a joint venture, or finding a business where you can help them to improve sales because of something you do better is a joint venture, too. But bonding with other folks to get your launch done is another cool way to JV. Don’t overlook it.

I haven’t written about this in a while because it’s been going on since January, but…

ListBuilding Club Ferrari

There’s still a Ferrari up for grabs over at the ListBuilding Club. There are three things you need to do to win:

1. Join the ListBuilding Club

You can start off with a $1 trial for your first month. That’s a $97 value, so you’ll be saving $96. You should definitely go do that. You’ll be amazed at how awesome the club is. If you’re struggling to make this work, Brian Edmondson does a wonderful job of teaching ALL the stuff about Internet marketing you need to know to make your business work. And it’s on video! It’s not a .pdf or audio training. You can watch Brian and then, go do exactly what he did, and bingo! You’re list building and creating your own, profitable online business.

2. Show the most improvement in building your list and make the most money with it by May 31, 2009.

So, let’s say you have no list… noooo problem! You will when you’re finished with this contest. Guaranteed. But (and this is a huge but) YOU must take action! You can’t win, and you’ll NEVER succeed unless you do that. It’s really just that simple.

3. Write an essay about why you should be the spokesperson for the ListBuilding Club.

Why are you awesome? What did you do that makes you awesome? How much money have you made? How can you prove these claims? If you aren’t a writer, talk into a tape or digital voice recorder and then, transcribe your essay or have someone transcribe it for you. You can make a video essay, too, so you really don’t have to write at all. K?

This is great! It’s a WIN-WIN situation, really. No matter whether you’re eligible (and only residents of the U.S. are, which is a shame, really) or not, you’ll still come away with more incredible knowledge than ever before. You’ll have a list building. You’ll be making money.

I didn’t figure it out for the first couple of years I was online. I had no list. I made NO money. But I have a list now and that makes all the difference. I have a relationship with the people on my list and they trust me to send them the good stuff. They know that if I recommend something, it’s worth having.

And they buy.

And I make money.

More money than I ever made before in my life, and all it took was learning that IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LIST.

So, go get into the contest! (Even if you can’t enter, you can still get the $1 trial and see just how awesome we really are over there.) Just have a contest with yourself with what you’ll be learning. Honestly, I’ve been around for 5+ years now, and I assure you… it’s some of the best training you’ll ever get. Yeah, yeah… I’m the ListBuilding Club Project Manager, and I’m probably a little prejudiced, but go and see what our members are saying and win some cool Ferrari prizes:

http://ListBuildingClub.com/blog

We’re giving away cool stuff every day! You’d be a fool not to at least check it out. The ListBuilding Club is helping thousands of people every month, and it’s just totally fulfilling.

God, I love my job!

Some people are really sick and tired of hearing about Twitter, and it’s true… Twitter has become the new fad for online enthusiasts, marketers and non-marketers alike.

But if you’re a marketer, have you thought about this?

It’s like having a sub-list. I mean, you can’t email these people, but you can tweet your followers anytime you want. So, if you’re like me, you write a blog post and BOOM! goes directly to Twitter.  That way, I’m connecting with my followers on a bigger scale than a mere 140 characters, right? When people like my post, they sign up for my list or at least, subscribe to my feed.  But you can’t just send blog posts. You need to interact.

That’s not to say that you should post marketing stuff to Twitter. That’s out, pretty much. I mean, if you tweet every day, folks might be OK with you dropping an AWeber message into Twitter every now and then, especially if you’re giving something away. But direct marketing is out, frowned upon, and if you do it very much, you’ll lose tons of followers. So, you’ll be defeating your own purpose.

Twitter is more like a guerrilla marketing tactic.

But then, making friends with people is the key to all marketing isn’t it? Who trusts you more than a friend?

If you want to get more friends on Twitter, be sure to participate in a quasi-nouveau tradition called #followfriday. The # tag will allows folks to go to TwitterSearch and find all the tweets that have #followfriday. Tags can be created for any purpose.

So, pick a few cool people from your list and tweet away, like this:

#followfriday @BrianEdmondson @tellman @kylebattis @michaelpurvis

And so on up to 140 characters. People on your list see that you like the folks in the #followfriday tweet and if they like you, they’ll check out your pals, too, and probably follow them, as well. It’s fun and very cool. And if you’re consistent with your #followfriday’s, you’ll be in lists that other folks send out, too.

Only one caveat about #followfriday… Only do it on Fridays. Otherwise, you have to find another # like #woofwednesday or something else.

Come follow me at http://Twitter.com/PatMarcello and let’s get acquainted.  Put #OVBlogger into your post and let’s see how many people we can get in that #!

Have you ever held a teleseminar with a JV partner? No? What are you waiting for? I mean, the power of teleseminars is E-normous!

When you get on the phone with a group of people and show expertise in your niche, they’re ready to follow you. They get it that you know your stuff and want to learn from you. They want to join your membership site or just pick your brain, but even before the call begins, people opt into a list to be able to get on the call.

When you hold a teleseminar, you’re getting the benefit of the other person’s list when they send people to your squeeze page to register. When you present on a teleseminar, the other person should be having people register at their own squeeze page and be getting the benefit of your list. So, you’re exchanging list members. You’re both building your list!

I don’t get it why people just don’t think to do this. It’s totally powerful and really important! List Building is all of it. That’s it. There are no magic weapons. Everything you do should be about building your list and a teleseminar is a perfect way to get that to happen for both partners.

Plus, when you sell your JV partners’ stuff on a teleseminar you host, you make money. You get half; they get half, right? When you’re a guest, you get to sell your stuff and they get half of your profits. Everybody wins on these things!

So, what are you waiting for? Find someone whose list is about the same size as yours and just exchange teleseminars. You’ll be so happy with the results.

Why is using a picture important?

Branding.

Simple.

YOU are your business. Unless you have gone to the trouble of having a company logo designed, what’s the face of your business? You are.

And online, which is more important?

YOU are.

People trust people. People don’t trust corporations. So, even if you had a fancy-schmancy logo designed, you should still use YOUR image to instill trust. Buyers want to know that a real person is behind the offer, and they want to trust that person before the buy from them.

You should put your picture everywhere you have a presence. Twitter, Facebook  — any social opportunity, really. Don’t use an avatar or leave the generic avatar. People might remember a cute avatar, but what does that matter? They won’t trust an avatar. They want to talk to, relate to, and trust YOU. So, it will take you a lot longer building that trust if you’re a cartoon. I mean, who takes them seriously, anyway, right?

But this doesn’t just apply to social networking situations. It applies to forums, to your website and your blog. You have to keep your face in front of people so that they remember you, and when they do, you’d better be on the up and up. You need to provide quality, to over-deliver on the information, and you need to show folks that you aren’t going to promise them something and then walk away.

People, in general,  are still skeptical of business online, and in this time of economic downturn offline, people are being very selective — more so than ever before online. They aren’t reaching for their credit cards every time a shiny new object comes along. And remember, this isn’t just in the U.S., the whole world is having economic issues and this is a global marketplace.

If you want to make money, you have to be a friend. You have to be someone that people can rely on for help. You have to provide the information or products they need to move ahead and to make more money. You have to help them succeed, and you’ll succeed in the process. If you think of it as a kind of “friendship” with your potential customers, the money will just come to you and you’ll feel really great about it in the process.

Get it now… EasyTraffic Steps.com

Go to http://SeesMic.com and open a free account!

Keep in mind that the quality of my webcam isn’t that great. If you have a better one, your mileage may vary.

Search for PatMarcello, and be my friend. I have about 70 videos in there now that answer various questions about Internet marketing.

Be my friend, and I’ll check out your videos, too!

Have you been to an offline conference yet? If you’re brand new to this Internet business, it’s understandable. You may think,

I can’t afford it. I can get what I need right from the comfort of my desk chair via computer. I see a lot of the stuff on UStream, anyway, why bother?

Because at conferences, you make important friends.

You make relationships that last a lifetime.

You really need to start saving right now.  Even if it’s only $10 a month, put it away and when you have enough money saved up, put your butt in a car or in a plane and get out there and let people know who you are!

Here are some people I met  or know and got to visit with this week at JVAlert:

Carrie Wilkerson, the charming and brilliant, Barefoot Executive

Erik Stafford and his wife Wendy. They’re made for each other. Both very cool people.

Ross Goldberg, who I’m getting to know just a bit better. He offered moral support for my fibromyalgia, which was severe this weekend. Thanks for that, Ross!

Willie Crawford, along with Mrs. Crawford, who is very nice

Warren Whitlock

Joel Comm

Dan Nickerson

Adam Urbanski

The ever friendly and fun, Jeff Wellman

Felicia Slattery

Alan Bechtold

Gina Gaudio – Graves and her really nice-guy husband, Bill, who’s just a sweetheart

Wendy Y Bailey (Don’t call her Wendy, she’s “Wendy Y” I happen to think that’s cool.)

Carl Galletti

Bob the Teacher (Jenkins)

Ray Edwards

Michael Angier

Bob Burg

Paul Counts. Watch him. He’s a very smart young man.

EricaBiz, who stunned me with her brilliance

Chris Moos

Should I go on? I mean, really. This is a pretty sweet list, eh? I mean, they’re all uber nice folks and it’s a pleasure just shake their hands or to hang with them a while. That was the best part. Really!

But, I also learned some very cool stuff. Adam Urbanski is just charming to listen to, and I imagine he’s a pretty swell coach. Joel Comm gave some really cutting edge info about SMS Marketing, which really interested me. Bob the Teacher did an excellent presentation on teleseminars, though I’m pretty much all set with setting those up, eh? But for people who haven’t done them, he’s a great teacher. Hence, Bob the Teacher, right? He’s very good at what he does. Bob Burg was hilarious and a real pleasure to listen to. I already told you about Carrie, and well…

then, there’s Ken McArthur. He’s just a sweetheart, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. He’s a great person and what more can I say?

So, you see? I didn’t know most of these folks before last year when I went to JVAlert. I just met Carrie in June, and she’s incredible. I love her energy, her sense of humor and her “mad skills” as she likes to say, as a marketer. Sharp lady.

And I made new friends of people whose names you wouldn’t recognize, but you will and I bet it won’t be too long, either. But new or old friends, it was just awesome.

I even got to hang with a couple of my amazing peeps from Blogging4Boomers, Cathly LaDow and Laurie Tossy. That was sweet! Wish I’d had more time to spend with them. Met some folks in The ListBuilding Club, too, like Daniel Perry, who is an attorney and was a judge for three years. He knows his stuff, and I regret that I didn’t have time to chat with him more. I’ll be interested in his new product, for sure.

The moral of this long and very animated story (Can you tell?) is…

Go to live conferences. Don’t waste the opportunity to meet folks. Except, pick your conference wisely. JV Alert isn’t one of the big impersonal conferences where the speakers are untouchable. Everyone at JVAlert is on a level playing field, and you can just walk up and talk to anyone. It’s great and a ton of fun!

OK… I don’t get a commission. I’m jes’ saying…

Do you know my friend, Carrie Wilkerson? If you don’t, you should. She’s the Barefoot Executive (http://barefoot-executive.com/) and she totally kicks butt. I mean, she’s truthful, she’s funny, and she doesn’t like whiners and slackers. Man, I can relate to that! She’s a great friend.

Ray Edwards did an awesome copywriting talk this afternoon. He gave really, really great content and made writing a sales letter and headlines seem like something so simple that anyone can do it.  Hmm…

I’m enjoying this conference from a different perspective than I did last year. It was a bright, shiny time, then. It’s even better now because  know a whole bunch of people, and it’s like seeing old friends. Totally rocks, and I’m having a great time.

Had dinner with Ken McArthur, Mr. Impact, last night, and made a new friend of Wendy Y. Bailey, a coach’s coach. That was cool. And I’m sharing a room with my friend Birgit Ratz-Cheung, whom I met last year at JVAlert.

Just spent some time talking with Gina Gaudio-Graves, who’s a sweetheart, and so is her husband, Bill Graves. He just challeneged me to eat 10 lobsters at a place here where you can eat all you want. I LOL. Me? I’d burst! Maybe 2. I’ll try that.

Ross Goldberg is here, and Erik Stafford and his wife, Wendy, who I just got to meet. It’s super! There are all kinds of folks that I haven’t been able to talk to yet, but I’m working my way through the crowd. Love it!

I’ve even got to meet some Blogging4Boomers members, Laurie Tossy & Cathy LaDow, who are super cool and a lot of fun.

Tonight I’ve been invited to a private party, and I’m looking forward to that. Whoo-hoo! Need to get a nap.

I have some video, too. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet, but have some ideas…  Keep ya posted.

I’ve been waiting for this for about a month now…

It’s that time again!

JV Alert time!

God, you know… I just love that conference. Ken McArthur always has the best speakers, and I always come back with new ideas and a buttload of knowledge that I didn’t have before.

And I’ve been around a while, you know? Like 5 years, and working for Tellman has made my brain want to explode at times. But, there’s always more to learn, eh? Things change.

So, I’m planning to learn, to see old friends — yes, the same people keep coming back and it’s awesome. Plan to hang out at a party that Erik Stafford is throwing, which reminds me… I have to secure a small token of my appreciation for him.

And it should be a lot of fun. Erik is an awesome guy.

So, that’s it! I’m off. I’m bringin’ my Flip Vid, so be prepared for some videos, and who knows? I may even find time to write.

I usually do, eh?

Here’s a video I made for Overcome Everything About Getting Traffic to your blog:

OK… Time for a Pat smackdown, people.

You know, I’m sick and tired of people asking me obvious questions. I mean, sure, “getting” this whole Internet marketing biz is hard when you get started. Trying to figure it all out is daunting and overwhelming, especially if you go off chasing after every pretty new thing that comes down the block.

STOP!

Do you think that I buy every product out there? Hell no. I bought one yesterday, tried it, liked it, and wrote to you about it here. But I don’t buy anything unless I know it will help me to move my business forward. And you should be the same way. Otherwise, your credit cards will be maxed out and you’ll be crying because it will take you seventeen years to pay them off.

But here’s the thing…

If you do buy something, USE it! READ it! Don’t join a club and then ask obvious questions about what’s inside it. This happens all the time with The ListBuilding Club and with Blogging4Boomers. People have legitimate questions, of course, but the ANSWERS are right there in front of their noses. Yet, they have never taken the time to go through the material in the course.

Guess what, people?

You won’t make it.

Why?

Because you don’t know how to find the answers you need. Nobody is going to hold your hand through this and show you every little thing you need to know. They just aren’t going to do it for you.  If you want to be successful, you have to do some looking and learning on YOUR OWN.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love doing Q&A. I do it twice a month for Overcome Everything and twice a month for my own business, and I love the calls. But I also get lots of emails. I must have answered at least 1,000 questions already this year and it’s only January. That’s awesome! I love helping people and I love to see them make progress and money. It’s a thrill to be able to help when folks just need something extra, and they often do.

But please… If you already have the answer–right in front of your nose, take some initiative and go find it! Otherwise, you’ll be frustrated and angry and you’ll never make it.

Part of this business that’s really important is that you have to learn where to find the answers. If you can do that, you’ll never be daunted. You’ll always know where to turn, and you’ll find success.

Don’t expect success to be handed to you because it won’t happen. Sorry. That’s just the deal.

I just got done watching the video for PPC Web Spy, and downloaded the free version immediately. You can get it here:

http://easyseotricks.com/ppc-obv

It’s a Firefox plugin that allows you to see the keywords for any AdWords advertiser. You can also have extra keywords suggested, and it’s totally awesome. I went through the whole video, expecting to pay. I mean, Brad Callen is the SEO Elite guy, right? It’s a great tool and I’ve used it a lot.

But I get to the end of the video, wondering how much it was, and it’s FREE!

You really should watch this video: http://easyseotricks.com/ppc-obv

Then, you get inside, and of course, there’s an OTO (one-time offer for the newest marketers). So, I’m thinking, hmm… how can this be better?

How would you like your Clickbank, Amazon, or PayDotCom IDs showing up whenever your referrals search for something and ultimately buy the product? I thought that was pretty sweet, so now, Joel Comm made some money from sending me to the site. You go, Joel.

Go download the free version and see how awesome it is, or at least watch the video. Rocks!

I just got some pretty interesting stats from Royal.Pingdom.com. They say they used various sources around the Web to come up with these numbers and did some fancy-schmancy calculations of their own. So, not sure how totally accurate they are, but let’s take a look:

How many people have email accounts?

1.3 BILLION

How many emails are sent per day?

210 BILLION  Wonder how many of them are spam emails? I must get 2-300 a day.

Ah… read on. 70% of them are spam. I guess the CAN-SPAM Act of 2004 isn’t exactly kicking ass. I often wondered how the U.S. could enforce it when a lot of the spam comes from other countries.  I totally hate spam and wish there was a better way to deal with it.

53.8 TRILLION spam emails were sent out in 2008! What a frickin’ waste of good bandwidth!

186,727,854 websites were online at the end of December. That’s sites, NOT pages. Imagine how many pages there are. Those Google spiders move like the wind.

There were 77.5 million .com domains in existence at the end of 2008. Lots of people in business or want to be in business, eh? I bought my name.com a long time ago, like in 1999.

When you add in .net and .org, you’ve got 174 million domains!

Worldwide Internet users? 1,463,632,361 That’s worldwide

There are 133 Million blogs and were 329 million blog posts in 2008.

How about this one? The average number of minutes in an online video? 3.1 minutes.

Internet Explorer is still the winning browser, though I don’t understand why. Probably people in the non-business or non-dev Internet — you know, just your average Internet user. Not insane Internet people like us — have never even heard of Firefox. Shame. They totally don’t know what they’re missing.

And…

There were 1 million computer viruses

Hope you weren’t the recipient of one of them.

And that about sums it up. If you want to read the whole article and the full list of stats, go to: http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/01/22/internet-2008-in-numbers/ and check it out.

I think stats are interesting. If you’re an online marketer, they should be interesting to you, as well. When you plan your marketing around a statistic, when you take some of the important ones into consideration, you’ll no doubt find that using this intelligence to target your campaigns is much better than hit or miss marketing, eh? I get stats in my Inbox every day from eMarketerDaily.com.

OK, OK, so I’m a math geek. I minored in Calculus in college. I like numbers a lot.

But numbers DO tell.

Wow! Have we finally made it to the Big Leagues? Well… maybe the minors, anyway, which is pretty cool.

Houston Baptist University is offering a new course: Internet Marketing and SEO.

Yep.

Being taught by two “Noted Website Marketing Executives,” whom I’ve not heard of, but hey. Brian Edmonson says I have my head… you don’t want to know. Trust me on that.

Anyway, they’re teaching, “… internet marketing skills, Search Engine Optimization, including domain name considerations, hosting strategies, keyword research, HTML tagging, header utilization, URL extensions, content development and website submission to search engines. Additionally, this course provides a review of Google tools such as iGoogle accounts, AdWords, Analytics, AdSense, and Webmaster Tools,” according to an article at MSNBC.com (”Internet Marketing SEO Course Offered at Houston Baptist University, ” Jan. 20, 2009)

Interesting. Wonder if they have any other degrees or they’ve just made a ton of money online.  And I’m wondering if they are truly SEOs. I mean, any SEO worth his/her salt knows that submissions to search engines are a waste of time. Spiders find sites anyway. Duh.

But I’m just pleased that people are finally taking us seriously, I guess.

I had a comment today on my last Ferrari post that we were all scammer and spammers, basically, and I think that’s the attitude that mainstream Internet users have of us. We’re the dark side of the Internet force.

I applaud Houston Baptist for taking this business to heart, and hope that the trend grows. In time, I see more business done online than off. I mean, retail probably will still exist, but I think that Internet business is going to be predominant.

But that’s me. My husband says that people won’t buy cars online, and I say, “They’re already doing it.”