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Ever have one of THOSE days? Well… I did today. Nothing seemed to have been done right… out of my hands… just a victim of getting others to do things for you and not following up. Who’s court is the ball in ultimately? Mine, of course.

Or, how about those days when you don’t see any sales, no optins, nothing working no matter how hard you try! I get that. Been there…

I have a friend who’s vlog will totally pick you up and set you on the straight road again. Energy and how to channel it is important. But that’s only one aspect of her vlog that I know you’ll enjoy…

http://www.reneevations.com/vlog

Make your day!

OK, so I’m the project manager for The ListBuilding Club and totally love, love, love it. And why wouldn’t I? I’ve helped create it, have maintained it, and work on it 100% of my time for Overcome Everything. I’m prejudiced. But we have hundreds of people, if not thousands who would agree with me.

The site starts at the beginning with picking a niche, getting a domain name, setting up a blog and so on. I mean, it’s step-by-step video training that anyone can follow. It just rocks and we’re constantly working on what we have to offer to make it better and better. We really care that people love it and are able to use what they learn and take it to the bank.

But that’s not why I’m writing here.

I’m writing to tell you about our affiliate program. It’s awesome! I mean, where else can you get $20 – $29 a month from every customer you refer and pays for his or her membership? That keeps on coming! It’s an awesome site to promote, and something you can be proud to represent.

Want to join us?

http://EasySEOTricks.com/AA

Sell 50 memberships to the LBC and then, you can apply to be an affiliate for our high-end coaching programs that bring in MUCH bigger commissions. Show us you know your stuff and you stand to make a great deal of cash!

But here’s a cool thing:

Even if you’re new to this whole affiliate marketing environment, we’re there to help you. Every Friday, we’re putting on training teleseminars that will teach you what you need to know to promote and make money with our system. You’ll love it!

So, sign up now and be part of the team. We’re waiting to help you make the cash you need to get by in these tough times.

Oh wait???? What’s that? I mean, really. If you’re a good affiliate marketer, there is no recession. It’s awesome!

The other day, I was over at SmartPageRank.com checking on this blog because I heard that Google had updated PR rankings again, and was curious. I had recovered from the paid links drop to PR0 back up to PR3 again, and was hoping maybe I could see a PR4 (where the blog was before the nasty debacle). I really shouldn’t care, and I’ll tell you why in a minute. But… I was totally surprised when…

I saw a PR0 again! Wow! That really pissed me off. And sure enough… days later, the PR0 appeared in my Search Status (see yesterday’s post) toolbar again.

I’m sorry but I won’t stop selling links. So, there, Google! My links have been there a long time, and so, people are obviously finding value in having them there. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to take that away from them. They were loyal to me before Google decided to penalize people for having paid links, and I seriously doubt that those links continue because the folks who are buying them wants to get some link juice. They didn’t leave me when I was a PR0. They just get clicks on the links or they wouldn’t keep paying for them, right? I mean, if Google took my PR away before…

I’m guessing that’s why they did it again.

So be it.

Does it hurt me? Well, if I was trying for some reciprocal linking, I’d say yes. But I’m still ranking #2, right under Matt Cutts (the Google spokesperson), for “seo canonical” for my post on canonical linking. And I’m ranking #3 for “WordPress marketing,” and #5 for “twitter nofollow,” and various other terms on page 1 that are pretty competitive. My page rank, though now bupkiss, hasn’t hurt me at all.

I was on the phone with Brad Fallon one time, when Tellman wanted me to find out why a site I’d been working on for a few months still had no page rank, and he told me that page rank means nothing. We all still worry over it and think about it, but the proof is in the pudding, people! PR means zip, zilch, zero.

What matters is where you land in the results.

So, I’ll keep selling links. It’s a matter of principle.

Here’s a video I hope you enjoy. We posted it to YouTube a while back, but I’m telling you… if you’re marketing online and you’re NOT writing articles, you totally need to start, and here’s why…

Want more? Lots of stuff on our channel… Check it out: ListBuilding Club Videos

Have you been to Google lately? (Who hasn’t, right?) Everyone seems to be talking about the new search item they call the “Wonder Wheel.” It puts me in mind of a couple of tools online. One is Personal Brain, which is mind-mapping software, and the other is Visual Thesaurus that will help you to brainstorm keywords or really just find synonyms if you’re a writer. Pretty neat, both have limited free versions that are worth checking out.

But what does Wonder Wheel do? It helps you to expand your horizons. When you do any search in Google, you’ll see a link above the horizontal paid ads, just under the Google search box, on the left-hand side of the screen that says “Show Options.” When you click on that, a right-hand sidebar opens.

You’ll notice that you can choose videos search, forum posts, or reviews. You can also decide how old you want the listings to be.

But the links at the bottom are the ones you want to pay closest attention to. The first link is for related searches, but the second is for the Google Wonder Wheel, which when clicked, opens just to the right beside the search results. You’ll see that circling the center search (what you typed into the search box,) are related terms.

For example, if you search for “search engine optimization,” you’ll see terms like “search engine submission,” “meta tags,” “search engine optimization pricing,” and so on for other terms related to SEO. When you click on “search engine optimization for dummies,” another wheel opens that’s linked to the original wheel, and you get new stuff to think about, like “google universal search,” “major search engines,” and “xml sitemaps.”

Pretty sweet. This can help you develop a pretty broad keyword base for any niche that you’re pursuing. That’s great for SEOs and Internet marketers, but it’s great for just plain searchers because it helps them to really get where they want to go. For example, if you click on XML Sitemaps, it takes you to places where you can learn what they are and to generators that will prepare them for you.

Anyway, it’s a cool new tool and you should check it out. It can be very valuable for your business or help you to search a whole lot smarter.

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

When I talk to people that are relatively new to Internet marketing, I’m astounded that they don’t see the value of building a list. Your list is the most important asset of your entire business! Without a list, you don’t make money, it’s just that simple.

Oh sure, there are some folks that have cracked the AdWords code, who know how to make AdWords pay off, but I guarantee that they’re also building a list around that activity. If they’re smart enough to conquer AdWords, they’re smart enough to know that the list will help them to make even more money, and not only that, but it will cost them far less cash. Emails are free, whereas we all know that AdWords is definitely not.

There are all kinds of ways to build a list, too. Obviously, you can put up a squeeze page and drive traffic to that. You can have an opt-in box on your blog. You can start a free site of some kind and pick up a huge list that way, or you can even buy a list through co-registration. But there are plenty of other ways to build a list, and if you aren’t doing it… good luck.

I spent the first couple of years online thinking that a list didn’t matter. I wasn’t making any money, either. It wasn’t until I connected with Tellman that he smacked me upside the head (virtually, of course), and said… “Start NOW!” And so, I did. And I have to say that my list means more to me than all the tea in England. Really. And my life is very different from what it was three years ago, too. It’s all because of my list.

Your LIST is your bread & butter. If you’re not building it… Start TODAY!

And if you need help with that, if you’re not sure how to begin… there’s always the ListBuilding Club. I assure you, it’s worth every single penny. Yes, I”m prejudiced, but I also know that you can’t find better training anywhere. We have thousands of satisfied customers, and I know that because they send us wonderful testimonials every single day. It’s really great to be part of that.

And it’s great for members because every single one of us at Overcome Everything cares. That’s our edge. We’re not just in it for the money. We want every single person that comes to us for help to succeed in a BIG way, and many have.

If you’re drowning out there and feel like you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start… Click Here and STOP the frustration. We really can help. And when your list is growing and you start making regular, steady money from it every day… you’ll “get” it, and be totally glad you did.

When I went over to Google Reader to check on my feeds today, I had no idea that I was about to BUY a plugin, but I did. My friend, Brian Terry from ListHero, had shared a cool post from Michel Fortin’s blog about all the plugins Michel uses.  He has a TON of them, and frankly, I’m impressed that his blog still loads so quickly. But anyway…

One of the plugins caught my eye.

It’s called “Action Comments,” and it asks people who comment on your blog if they’d like to also join your list. A checkbox shows up under the comment form and is automatically checked for them, if you want it to be, or it can be open. It’s pretty sweet, and so for $17 I bought it.

It’s easy to install with WordPress 2.7.1 because after you download the .zip file, you just ask the blog to install it for you. Then, you fill in your autoresponder code, and voila! You’re done.

If you want to check it out… Click Here to Get All the Details About Action Comments.  After you buy it, there’s even a video that shows you how to install it and use it. Even the newest newbie on the planet can do it.

Are you building a good following at Twitter? I am. I love hanging out there. Don’t post a TON like some folks, but I manage to get a blog post and a link or two in a day and love #followfriday. Total fun stuff.

But if you’re building a list at Twitter to market to the people on your list, well… you can, but for how long? I mean, Twitter is awesome, and though I’m hoping it will be around a long, long time, I’ve been on the Internet a long, long time, and…

Stuff that was HUGE way back then, like Usenet (bulletin board type spaces that are more like today’s forums) or IRC (Internet Relay Chat, like today’s chatrooms except you can get to them from the Word Wide Web), for example are so used to was now.

An email list is permanent, at least until your subscribers decide that they don’t want to be on your list anymore. But their loyalty will stand the test of time.

Twitter may be a passing fancy, and if you spend a lot of time trying to build an enormous following without building your email list at the same time, well… I don’t think you’re looking very far into the future.

Remember how everything was so MySpace a couple of years ago? Or, how about when Yahoo was the premiere search vehicle? Alta Vista doesn’t even exist anymore, and we used to think it was pretty great until Google came along. And so…

It’s the Internet. Prepare for it. Get the people who are enjoying your Tweets today onto your email list. That’s the only way you’ll be able to keep them as your customers for a long time to come.

Just sayin’…

What happens in an Internet marketer’s life when he doesn’t know what to do? I mean, what content can you create that will sell like hotcakes? What do people want to learn more about? And how do you find out?

Simple, run a survey or what Alex Mandossian calls an “Ask” campaign.

There are many ways to do this, and it really depends on the kind of survey you want to use to get the information. There are “fill in the blank” surveys and there are voting polls, right?

If you’re creating a new course, then the “fill in the blank” method is usually what works best. “What’s your most burning question about…” whatever it is you’re interested in promoting in your niche. But before you even get to that point, you probably want to take a poll.

MicroPoll is great for this. It’s a free service, and you can run a bunch of polls on your site for nada. You tell it what the topics are and it creates a radio-button widget for you where people can vote for their favorite topic.

Once you know what their favorite topic is, then you run the content survey. You can use services like ASK Database, Survey Monkey, or Survey Gizmo. These are all great for that type of campaign. The last two resources are free, ASK Database is not.

But what if you want to run a campaign that is more social? Then, you want User Voice, which gives you buttons that look much like Digg buttons for your site.

There are also many other ways to do this, and some of them involve installations. But for the simplest way to find out what your audience wants… these resources truly rock!

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.

Anyone who’s anyone in social marketing knows about Ping.fm . It’s a site that will post to multiple social sites for you, and you design the setup. You can hook into Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn. For micro-blogging there’s Twitter, Plurk, and Jaiku.  And there’s regular blogging if you have Blogger, WordPress.com or TypePad. And a whole bunch of sites that you may or may not belong to.

Imagine how much time you’re going to save because you don’t have to go from site to site, posting the same danged information. It’s really sweet!

If you don’t yet have a Ping.fm account, you need to get one today. Just post to Ping.fm and you’re done!

I have to admit that I’ve been lazy (= no time) to set it up. I don’t belong to all of the around 40 social sites that it supports, but that’s my bad.  Like everyone, I’m often thinking, why bother, if you don’t have time to be an active participant.

So… I’m kicking myself.

There are lots of important sites that I never mess with just because of the lazy (= not time) situation. It’s kind of like buying in bulk. You know it’s a good idea but you hate to spend that much at one time, eh?

Well… I managed to get my sites set up today, so look out. I’ll be posting to Ping.fm from now on! Lots more updates. And maybe…

Even a little more time.

Did you ever have a day where everything seemed to go wrong? I mean, Mars must have entered my sign around lunchtime and since then… pfffttt!!!

So, I’d better not write anything serious here, or I’ll probably be wrong.

One thing I’d like to caution everyone on is in checking their sites periodically. I have egg on my face today because a customer bought one of my older products, and my bonuses are no longer working. Great, huh? I just lost the faith of one consumer, which means I will now have lost the faith of 27 other people. (That’s what one bad word of mouth issue can do for you.)

I, of course, offered another killer bonus in place of the one that was defunct, and a full refund, but the woman who bought my ebook will certainly not forget the incident. I’m hoping she’ll remember that I was responsive and offered a remedial solution and not the bad stuff.

But you just don’t know. I don’t blame her one hoot for being pissed off. Heck, I’m pissed off — at me!

So, let me remind those of you who have been online a while and have products out there with bonuses not to forget that sometimes bonuses change and you need to stay current. Update your sales letter and your bonus package as need be.

Because if you don’t…

It could cost you money and credibility. That’s NOT at all what you want. Arghhhhhhhhh!!!

SEO is a huge consideration in everything you do for your business. Using a blog? Obviously, SEO is important. Creating a squeeze page? SEO… Writing a sales letter… SEO… Twitter… SEO. Everything you do online is about you and your keywords.

And yes, even Twitter.

I’m all about blogging and SEO and people are beginning to know that because of all the stuff I have out there in regard to blogging and SEO. As a joke, I bought the domain BlogQueenoftheUniverse.com, which redirects to this blog. It was a joke, and my friends thought it was pretty funny. But…

I actually saw someone refer to me that way on Twitter the other day. How cool is that? I obviously know that I’m NOT the be all and end all of blogging. Nobody is, but becoming a presence and “branding” yourself as one thing or another is a huge part of making yourself successful.

So, who do you want to be? What’s your niche? Are you the “Hunting King?” or how about “The JV Queen,” like Gina Gaudio-Graves? Or the “Niche Prof,” like Ron Capps? Try to position yourself as the expert in whatever field you want to conquer and then, back it up.

If I knew nothing about blogging or SEO, it would be stupid for me to try and be the queen of those fields. People would guffaw, and I’m certain that the people who DO know more than me in those areas most certainly are already.

But I don’t care.

Those aren’t the people I’m trying to impress and help along the way. My target audience are new bloggers and people who are new to SEO and this whole Internet marketing world. To them, I am the Blogging Queen of the Universe because I totally know a LOT! Certainly not everything, but enough that I do seem like an expert to people learning this whole confusing world of IM.

So, who are you? Who’s your target audience and who do you want to be to them? That’s what you should be striving to establish. Learn all you can about your niche topic and then, use the appropriate keywords surrounding that area in everything you do.

You’ll be amazed at how people respond to your expertise. It won’t happen overnight. I’ve been at this 5+ years and only now are people starting to know who I am and what I do, and it’s pretty sweet. I love working with folks, and so coming to them with some credibility is very, very important. I never want to disappoint them — evah.

So, my friend Brian Terry, who’s an awesome graphics designer and just as awesome a marketer, has come out with a new plugin I know you’ll love. It’s called “Optin Pop,” and if you’re a regular reader here, you’ve probably seen it on this blog. I’ve been testing it over the past few weeks, and it’s increased the optins from my blog by about 30%. Not too shabby.

And it’s your typical WordPress plugin. Nothing fancy.

But here’s the sweet part…

It allows you to create 10 different optin boxes and it rotates them for you. So, every time people come to your blog, or every 5 times or whatever you set, they see another message. Not every message will resonate with everyone who sees it, right? So, it you can create 10 messages, you have a much higher chance of getting their attention.

You can choose a lightbox effect, where it darkens the screen, while putting your optin box right in the reader’s face, or you can be a bit more subtle and use a standard pop-up.

You can choose to make it grey, blue, red or white.

You can set it to appear on all pages, just your permalink pages, on comment pages, or category pages.

You can set the width you prefer.

You can have it appear on load or on close.

And you can decide how often you want people to view it.

Plus, it’s unblockable. How cool is that?

What all this adds up to is more optins and a bigger list for you, and we all know that list just equals money!

It’s totally worth getting, so don’t wait. Snap it up at http://easyseotricks.com/op

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.

As a professional writer, I found the Internet to be an answer to my prayers way back in 1996. That’s eons in Web time, eh? Well… it used to be that I had to figure out what it is I needed to know about a topic, go to the library and schlep home a pile of heavy books. If I wanted something in a newspaper or magazine, I had to stay in the library. And if I wanted something fresh and unique, I’d interview an expert. These are still quite viable ways to research pieces, but today, the choices are just wide open for finding everything you need online, even experts.

I learned that quickly because I had a small child at the time, and getting to the library and all that it entailed was difficult. No babysitters and this full-time mom had to be creative about getting her research done.

When I finally got online in ‘96, I was completely thrilled to find so much information at my fingertips. I set about doing a very complicated piece about circumcision, interviewing 42 men, women, and professionals on the topic via email. I got way more input from folks than I ever could have by phone.

Then, a couple of years down the line came blogging. Blogging! It meant that writers, pro or amateur, could write what was on their minds and have it published immediately for anyone who was interested to read. Wow! Being published in print is a hard row to hoe. You have to know the proper formats, go through the proper channels, and often wait a very long time before an editor finally shows interest.

Yet, blogging wasn’t serious quite yet. Blogger was the rage and people writing about what they had for lunch wasn’t terribly exciting. Traditional publishing was actually LATE to the online world, so there weren’t as much cogent and useful writing as one would hope in the early days.

All of that has changed. Now, there’s more good writing on popular blogs than bad, and running a blog ticker on blogs in your niche is almost imperative. For me, keeping up with the news in SEO is imperative, and so, I read lots of blogs pertaining to the topic. It’s easy for me because there are places like SEOMoz, Search Engine Land, SEOBook, and the essential Matt Cutts. I try to read these at least once a week, each plus others as I see fit. The information isn’t just accurate, it’s timely. I don’t have to wait for this month’s issue. I’m getting input every single day.

But sometimes, you’re in a niche that isn’t quite so easy to find information in, and this is especially true when it comes to blogs. Let’s say you’re in the knife throwing niche, for example, or coin collecting or fishing. There are corporate blogs in each of those, I’m sure, and you can find some stuff that’s reliable. But when you go to a blog that’s not a company’s blog, is the information you’re getting correct? Anyone can throw up a blog and may not be expert in the niche you’re working in. You may have more smarts about the topic than they do! So? Reader beware.

Kendall Allen wrote about this very topic today in “The Love/Hate Livelihood Of The Blogosphere” at Online Spin at Media Post. The good news is that the blogosphere seems to be improving in quality. But she’s coming at the topic like an offline person, asking about metrics and such. Any online marketer worth his/her salt and any blogging pro knows that there are lots of great measurement tools to use. Her approach is rather stuffy. She’s talking about standards and in some respect, regimentation.

I’d hate to see that, really. Regimentation will squeeze all the life out of blogging, just like it squeezed the life out of the publishing industry. Only the very accurate in form are even considered for publication. Seriously. If you don’t have your format correct, editors may not bother with your writing no matter how great it is. They figure that if you haven’t done the background work to find the proper forms that you’re not serious and pffft!!! You’re out before you even get to the plate.

The talk of “best practices” in Allen’s article just chills me to the bone. I embraced the blogosphere simply because there was none of the regimentation and picky B.S. that accompanies the offline publishing world, and I’ve written for all print media types — newspapers, magazines, and books. It’s not that she’s saying that the information should be accurate. I’m 100% on board with that, but…

Bloggers should be policing themselves, not some set “standards.”  That would just take all the fun out of it.  What would that mean for sites like ” Boing Boing,” which is almost 100% scraped content. It’s not a particularly well written blog, but it sure is a ton of fun.

And I totally don’t think it can ever happen.

But I assure you that the first time they try to set “standards” for blogging, I’m off to fight against it.

We’ve done it again. Well, Tellman has done it again actually, and I’m pretty excited by this new coaching program we have going — ListBuilding 411.

How’s it work?

Members are able to ask one question per day, either in writing or on video, and a member of the Overcome Everything staff responds to each question with a video answer. It’s actually an upgrade to The ListBuilding Club, so that’s also included in the price, which is really sweet.

So far, we’ve been getting rave reviews for 411. It’s really cool to be able to help all these people, too. I’m managing the program, so I see all the questions that come in and am able to assign answering to the people that make the most sense.  With 14 of us with varying levels of expertise on every topic from copywriting to tech, there’s nothing we can’t handle.

I’ve found a couple of drawbacks from a customer standpoint. Some aren’t able to get their question posed clearly enough to be understood on video or we don’t get what they’re trying to say. So, we have to go back to them and get additional information, which delays their answer, or we try to answer the question, but it’s not the answer they wanted. But everyone in the program is very nice and we love working with them. Everyone gets their issues aired and fixed in a very short time.

If you’re working in a vacuum and don’t have anyone to talk to about this Internet marketing stuff (which only we IMers understand, right?), it has to be cool to know that there are people ready and able to help. Wish I’d had that support when I was first starting out. If you’re like me, you struggle to find the right stuff to concentrate on and you spin your wheels a lot. Getting someone who knows what to do and how to help you get things going in the right direction fast has to be relieving.

Anyway, if you’re one of those folks, I’m not selling here, just writing about a cool service. Nobody else is doing this! You can check it out at http://ListBuildingClub.com/411

I just wish I’d had the LBC 5 years ago when I started this incredible journey.

I have a bunch of coaching clients, an I also man the phones at Overcome Everything, whenever we do a call. Tomorrow, for example, I’ll be doing a Listbuilding Club call and answering questions for a couple of hours. It’s a lot of fun, but do you know what the ONE thing I hear all the time is?

“I’m overwhelmed.”

“I have information overload.”

Well, no kidding! That’s how it works for all of us in the beginning. Me, too.

So, stop buying stuff! Stop downloading stuff, and figure out who the major players are first. I mean, there are some people who are niche specialists. Like I do blogging and know a ton about that. Other people are traffic experts, and so on.

But what brought this to my mind is that Tellman asked all of us to make a video for him, telling people what we do for Overcome Everything and what makes us awesome. Of course, I could have gone on for an hour. No…

Kidding.

But you know what my “talent” is? I get shit done.

I’m organized, at least in my brain. My desk is another matter. But I keep things together, and here’s how:

First, get yourself a white board. It doesn’t have to be huge. Just something you can write on and state your weekly goals. They have to be “quantifiable,” as Tellman says. So, if you’re going to make videos that week, how many? If you’re going to study something, what is it? If you’re going to gather links, how many?

Like that.

And then, keep those in front of you. Remember that above all else, you HAVE to get those things done. If you do, bravo! If you don’t, you need to focus.

Also have a desk calendar in front of you at all times. Mine is under my arms as I type right now. I write everything I need to remember on it, like who am I promoting for that week? It goes on my white board, but it also goes on my calendar.

I put appointments and calls on my calendar, and the times. So, I’m never late and always know what’s happening when. Someone wants a meeting, I know if I can make it or not. simple.

But as far as the learning goes, take it really slow at first. If you don’t know HTML, getting an HTML for Dummies book is a good place to start. That is, unless you plan to hire a webmaster. Then, start with the strategy stuff. Your first core skill that you need to learn and get underway is…

Drum roll, please…

LIST BUILDING

Concentrate on that, and don’t allow anything to sway you. If the learning isn’t leading you to be a ninja list builder, forget it and go on to something that is.

If you have a list building already… GREAT!

Move to blogging. I have a great solution for that. Ha! Blogging4Boomers.com, but if you want to do the tech stuff yourself, go to http://EasyBlogTricks.com and you’ll have that part knocked already.

Then, move to other forms of traffic and drive it all to a squeeze page. Build your list, and communicate regularly with the people on it. Send them things. Offer them products. Tell them what’s going on in your life, and you’ll do very well.

And when you’ve made $100K online, then think about creating a product. That’s also a ‘Tellmanism,’ but he’s right. Why bother with anything else, except list building, until you’re making money and know the market and the marketing better?

And that’s the plan.

Simple, eh?

Totally worked for me. I got distracted with the product creation thing too soon, and know what? Though my early attempts weren’t total failures, they weren’t raving successes, either. I didn’t have anyone to sell my stuff to. Duh.

So, don’t be like me. Get organized. Concentrate on list building and getting traffic to your squeeze page to make your list HUGE and you’ll be a winner. Every time.

I meet a lot of people in this industry. Some of them are light years ahead of me, while others are just starting out. One question I’ve had more than once from folks are desperate: “I need to make money now. Show me how to do it.”

That question is just sad, and I wish I had a magic bullet or some quick solution, but here’s the deal… There is none.

Learning a business from scratch takes a lot of time and effort. None of the programs that guarantee to make you rich overnight are honest. There is no free lunch. You have to work to succeed, and you have to work very hard.

It is possible to make millions of dollars online. I know tons of people who do that on a personal level. It can be done.

But they didn’t start out that way. They started out by struggling, just as you may be struggling now. If you’re up to the game, you can be just like them. I’m still working at it, and I’ve been in this going on 5 years now. I mean, I make money, but I’m not a millionaire–yet.

There’s still work to be done and relationships to be forged and lots of fun along the way. Because when it comes right down to it, what’s ALL business? A game. It’s all a big game. And the person who makes the most money wins.

So, learn something really well. Maybe it’s blogging (my love), SEO (my other love), or maybe it’s just talking and doing teleseminars or being part of the e-commerce or eBay worlds. Whatever it is, get really, really good at it. Study and learn, every day.

Don’t get confused by everything going on around you, and don’t follow every opportunity. Don’t buy products from every launch.

Tellman says to pick one person to follow, and follow everything they do–to the letter. They’re successful because they know what works and what doesn’t. I think that’s pretty sage advice.

Stay focused. If you can do that, you just might have a chance.

There’s plenty of playground out there.

I’m so totally excited…

This is it!

Bill Clinton has thanked her for “fostering American entrepreneurship.”

EVENT:  Mystery Guest (You’ll have to come to see who she is!)

DATE & TIME: Wednesday, May 7th at 8:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW…

http://Blogging4Boomers.com

This mystery woman is what some would call “visionary.” Not only has she served been on the board of directors or actually working to see the success of 36 startup businesses. Her investing acumen includes 200 startups (including Google) as a venture capitalist or angel investor.

But wait…

She has been a consultant for the White Houses of Clinton and Bush.  She has also consulted for 700 of the Fortune 1000, and over 300 small businesses. And she has been on the cutting edge, supporting new ideas long before they became popular in the marketplace.

Don’t miss this call! I’m so excited to have her I can hardly believe she’s coming! This is HUGE! And I’m so glad I got her for you.

Clear your schedule for 8 p.m. this evening (EST). Get on the phone or come to the webcast.  Go to

http://Blogging4Boomers.com

and get in now.

Have you started to notice it? I mean, blogs… web pages… all to the far left of the screen??

It’s making me crazy. Even WordPress has moved their “write post” to the far left, and I feel unbalanced.  Those of you who know me well probably think that already, but hey…

Doesn’t it bother you that you have to turn your head to look left when trying to read something?

I mean, we’ve been indoctrinated with the idea that people like 650 pixels in the middle of the screen. My eyes expect that. Then, some of younz throw a curve ball and thwack! My neck flys west and I’m reading stuff that’s out of kilter.

I hope this isin’t a trend. What marketing firm made a study and decided that we’re better off with 19 inch uber flat-screen monitors that only have half their space taken up? There’s like all this white stuff on the right.

I know, I know… You’re thinking, but my monitor isn’t that wide.

And this could be making you happy.

If so, I heartily apologize for the rant.

But I have to say that it will be a very long time until I’m used to this looking left fad. It’s making me cranky.