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Yes, I’ve written a few press releases in my day. I’ve published a few, too, back in my editor days, but I love what they can do for your business in terms of getting traffic. If you haven’t written one, they aren’t terribly difficult, either.

First and foremost, you need a good hook.

That’s exactly like a headline. So, if you’re good at writing headlines, you have half the battle nailed.

I like to tie my headlines in to something that people might currently be searching for. So, I cruise the headlines in the news. Of course, you have to tie your headline to the body of the press release or it won’t work.

I go to places like Google News and Excite or Yahoo to find the choice headlines, and the trick is to find something people are searching for. Right now, it could be Obama, Batman, or there’s always the fuel crisis.

Just be very careful how you do it or the release won’t be approved. If you can work a legitimate tie-in, though, you’ll be cool. Like, if you’re talking about Batman, you’d better have a gothic product or something superhero-like. I think that would be kind of hard.

Last year, when we were launching The ListBuilding Club, I did one for Tellman that said he was opening the club with more tricks than Harry Potter, which was out at the time, and then went on to say that Tellman’s not a magician, but he has more marketing tricks than a tutor at Hogwart’s. All worked out, you see?

Anyway, that’s my tip for the day. Have fun coming up with cool ways to get people interested. They may not even know that they want to know about your cool news, but well… when they get there, they just might be highly interested, eh? Get as many people reading your releases as you can.

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So… This morning I wake up. It’s my birthday! And so, I’m like, happy about it, but not like a kid, you know? When you’ve had as many birthdays as I have, it just seems like another day.

I call in to the manager’s meeting that we have every morning at Overcome Everything, and I’m waiting to tell Tellman what’s on our team’s plate for the day.

Then, my husband pokes his head in to say, “There’s a police officer here to talk to you.”

I’m like, “What about?” He just shrugs and looks worried. Here, I’m thinking it’s donation time again.

So, I walk into the living room, and there’s a guy in his mid- to late thirties, probably, in a uniform. He says, “Are you the owner of a 2008 black CTS with the license number XXX-XXX?”

“Yes. What’s this about? Would you like to sit down?” I ask him.

“No, that’s OK… I was up late last night and I should just keep standing.” Now, I can smell the alcohol on his breath, and I’m thinking, Wow! He’s probably hungover. What the hell?

So, he says, “Were you driving in Creekwood Shopping Center on Wednesday?”

“I guess,” I said. There’s a Starbuck’s in there and other stuff we’re always going to, so I figured I could have been, but couldn’t quite remember.

So he turns the page, and says that they had a complaint from the Sheriff’s aunt. She was driving a yellow VW and said that I cut her off and forced her into the grass.

Now, I’ll show you how dumb a person can be:

1) The guy was wearing a wrinkled shirt with his undershirt hanging out at the sleeves and neckline. My dad was a cop. He was always starched and pressed (’course that was the olden days, but…) with shoes shining so clearly that I could see my face in them.

2) This part of Bradenton is really unincorporated Manatee County. Bradenton Police don’t really have jurisdiction.

3) That shopping center has no grass to be driven into.

But I’m not thinking, right? I’m just like, “Well, that’s totally wrong. First, I wouldn’t do that and second, I never did that.”

So he says, “Well, if you can’t own up to this, I have to take you downtown.”

Now, I’m totally furious. It’s my birthday and I have to go to downtown Bradenton in a police car so that my neighbors could watch me walk out in handcuffs, to totally ruin my day. I mean, these folks get upset when a blade of grass isn’t standing at attention. This would be bad.

Not only that, but he tells me he has to frisk me to get up against the wall!

As he’s telling me to put my arm behind my back to be cuffed, a thought goes through my head…

TELLMAN

Big bright lights go off in my brain and it finally takes over and starts working. This is no cop!

I was PUNKED.

It was totally hilarious, after the fact, and when I got back on the phone we all had a good laugh over it. Tellman really made my day. It started out hilarious and just keeps getting better.

But do you see how you can miss the details of things when you let your emotions get over on you? I wasn’t thinking logically because I was so totally humiliated by the allegations and really angry because there was nothing I could do, though I knew I was innocent. The anger just infused my brain and made me stupid.

Duh.

Don’t let your emotions rule you. Don’t take failure personally. Don’t let it get you down.

Just remember that with every failed project, you’re a winner. You know what NOT to do again. Just consider whatever didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped as a learning experience and move on. Next time, it will be easier and work better.

Christine Comaford-Lynch has a great philosophy about accepting rejection, and I wont’ go into it because this post is really long, but you should check out Rules for Renegades at RulesforRenegades.com and go to the “Cool Resources” section.

But first…

I had a totally awesome day. And because it’s my birthday and I’ve been laughing and doing stuff I love to do all day, I thought I’d let you in on something totally free and totally cool.

Go to http://easyseotricks.com/IMG2

Get some cool free stuff to help you continue down your ultimate path to success. I have a really good ebook in there about keyword research. Go get it. Free.

And… ALWAYS remember to pay attention to the details, or you could get punk’d.

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If you’ve read my blog before, you know I work with the uncrowned King of List Building, Tellman Knudson.

I started working for him 2 years ago, and then, I had about 200 people on my list. I thought that was respectable. LOL What a dunce!

So, Tellman suggested I start list building by using co-registration. If you don’t know what that is, co-registration is a way for you to advertise your ezine, newsletter, special report, or whatever with a group of other ads. The co-registration service does all of the advertising for you, and you’re guaranteed a certain number of names and email addresses each month.

This is NOT the same as buying a list. Never do that because it’s illegal. You only want people on your list that ask to be there by opting in.

Even with co-registration, it’s a double opt-in process. Someone sees your newsletter ad, checks a box saying that they want to receive your information and he or she confirms the email address, as well. They want to be on your list. See the difference? Anyway, my favorite co-reg service is List Builder Pro. You should check it out, if your list is small.

What’s a respectable size? Well, you can’t do much with the big names, unless you’re talking 10,000 names or more. It takes awhile, unless you’re good at joint ventures, which are hard to set up, if you have no list, right?

Anyway, after two years of list building heavily (It should be your main focus.), I’m seeing the results.

I respect and honor the people on my list. I’ve been bringing speakers to them for my Blogging4Boomers teleseminar series, and directing them to some cool free stuff that will help them to move their businesses forward. I also do Q&A sessions twice a month. And I send them offers, but only for products I know are good.

Tellman was right.

Tellman is right.

If you’re not list building, you’re missing the boat. I just got a nice check in the mail today and that happens a regularly these days. Pretty sweet. Want yours?

Always be list building! Always.

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No, I’m not that conceited. I know I’m good, but hey… Wonderful?

Well, Wonderful Web Women thinks I am, which is totally cool. I get to be among some of the top women online today and talk about being honored! Janet Beckers invited me way back when I was just starting Blogging4Boomers. Wait… That was only February! It seems like for.ever in Web time, eh?

Anyway, this Monday night, I’ll be joining Janet’s line up of truly wonderful women like Rosalind Gardner, Lorrie Morgan Ferrero, Heather Vale, Stephanie Mulac, and so many others that I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to be joining them.

Women are totally wonderful, of course, and I’m a child of the ’60s, women’s rights and all that. Plus, I wrote a book about Gloria Steinem, though many Internet folks don’t know it. Yep. Gloria is awesome. She called me a couple of times saying, “It’s me… Your cross to bear,” which I thought was totally hilarious.

Imagine her talking about being my cross, when it was all I could do to remain firmly planted on the floor and not in the air when we spoke. I mean, little-known writer gets to interview icon of tremendous stature. But she treated me as though I was no different. I really respected and appreciated that.

That’s a key, though. You never ACT as though someone else is that much higher in stature. I’m a big fan of Christine Comaford Lynch, who I just spoke with the other day. That’s her philosophy, and it was my mom & dad’s. “They put their shoes on in the morning, just like you do,” they would always tell me, and it’s true.

Anyway, back to Gloria…

I think she’s the kindest person I’ve ever met. I mean, lots of us are kind, sure. We do things for other people and all, but this woman dedicated her life to being kind to women. She traveled constantly during the 70’s and virtually gave her life to the cause. I admire her a lot, as a person. She rocks! And she couldn’t have been more helpful when I was working on her book.

But that’s why I’m totally stoked about being a Wonderful Web Woman. I love to help people, and in this business, it’s soooo important. If you get a opportunity to help anyone, take it. Do it. Give, give, and give some more. Don’t be this greedy salesperson just looking to make a buck. You’ll never make it.

I started working for Tellman and wasn’t even paid, at first. I was on his Black Diamond Line Inner Circle coaching program that cost like $500 a month. The first day I got on the call, I was blown away by the information he was giving us. But at the end, he asked for “Traffic Apprentice” applications. He wanted people to learn to drive traffic, and well… Who could resist? I put an application in, never thinking I’d get the position, but I did. And can I tell you that I was still paying the $500 and working with him, and it was worth WAY more than I can begin to explain. It led to a really great job and more learning than I can handle at times, right? I mean, I’m light years ahead of where I was almost two years ago.

So, it’s like the Law of Attraction in action. When you want something, you go after it in every way. You think about it. You work toward it, and you help other people any time you can.

“You get back what you give three times,” my husband’s grandmother always used to say, and I never forgot it.

If you have a list, let me know how I can help you. If you don’t, let me help you to get one started.

Want to know how?

Go to Blogging4Boomers.com/forum and sign up for my forum. We can talk about blogging, Internet marketing or just hang out. I’m interested in you and want you to be successful. Let’s kick some IM butt!

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Kind of scary, that headline. But no… It’s a good tired and excited, so get your minds right.

Pat has been so quiet for the last couple of weeks because like everyone at Overcome Everything, I’m working my butt off. We’ve been doing Squeezathons, making reports, newsletters, videos, CDs and tons and tons of stuff for the launch of Listbuilding.com tomorrow.

I can’t believe the day has almost arrived!

I remember Tellman talking about it in early February and thinking, well… we have LOTS of time.

But time goes quickly. I’m excited about the whole thing, not because the company stands to make a bunch of money (and that’s always a good thing), but because I know how many people’s lives have been touched by the whole thing. I mean now, more than 300 people have squeeze pages up and running that never did before. That’s a BIG squeeze, eh?

I feel pretty good to know that I had some part in that, but we’ve all been working hard. We’re an incredible team of hard-working people and it’s actually ready to happen! Everyone involved is running like monkeys to get things in order before the big day.

And have you seen the list of teachers for the coaching classes? Holy cow! It’s a who’s who of marketing. All my heroes in one course. wow.

Shawn & Tellman totally went all out on that one. There will be stuff in the course that just can’t be had anywhere else. You need to be on the calls. You need to soak up every bit of this that you can, especially if you’re new to Internet marketing. If you haven’t yet…

WTHeck are you waiting for?

Here’s the deal: http://PatMarcello.ListBuilding.com

Man, this is one of the biggest things in Internet Marketing history!

I feel very blessed to have been part of helping so many people. That’s totally cool.

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OK, so we’re on the phone answering questions for ListBuilding.com

If you haven’t opted in go over now and do it! You’re missing tons of great information. F-R-E-E

We’ll be on from noon - 8 tonight and 9 -noon tomorrow, answering any questions you might have about getting up your first squeeze page.

I’m on the phone now. Was on this morning, will be on from 9 - 11 tomorrow morning.

Come TALK to me, folks! Get over to Lisbuilding.com and be part of the action!

I’m waitin’ for ya.

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So, have you been over to ListBuilding.com yet? No? Well…

You’re missing a sh*tload of great content. Shawn Casey, Tellman, and the whole OE team has been hard at work for the past few weeks creating all this stuff. You’ll find some basic tech stuff, mindset stuff, free reports, case studies of how well it’s working for other people, and even a gun.

GASP!

Yes, a gun.

OK… so some people hate guns, and are complaining that they have no place in Internet marketing or anywhere else. They’re sending comments and hate mail. I guess it’s OK for the criminals to have guns and people in danger should just wait like sitting ducks to be killed or maimed or whatever.

Brilliant!

But that’s not my point. (And not necessarily the views of the company. Personal views here, folks.)

My point is that there’s a whole lot of great, great stuff at ListBuilding.com and if you aren’t registered to get in on it, you’re nuts or lazy or both. So, go right now and watch that video that caused all the trouble.

ListBuilding.com

Your comments are welcome. Here, there, and everywhere.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Well, sort of.

I got Launch Formula Marketing for my membership site. $250. Easy to use, right?

Totally wrong.

It’s probably mostly my fault because I’m not a PHP programmer. I understand it ever so slightly and can do things like alter my blog template, for example.

But I can’t do anything with my membership site.

It’s working for members, which is what my main concern is. They’re great, and they make me feel good about what I’m doing almost every day. I have the best members in the universe. Really. They rock!

But…

I’m setting up this fabu teleseminar series. It’s got people like:

Tellman Knudson (of course) of The List Building Blog

Brian Edmondson (why definitely) from Blog with Brian He’s got an awesome customization. I’m jealous.

Mike Paetzold (a real WP kinda guy) from Mike Paetzold Recommends

Reed Floren, who’s amazing on Facebook. His JV group is really active and once I’m settled in with this membership site stuff, I’ll be getting in on some really great JVs, just from being a member.

Ken McArthur, who uses his JVAlert blog for some amazing bonding with his audience. JVAlertLive starts tomorrow!

Andy Duncan of Netslingers.com, who uses his blog for a niche audience.

Stephen Pierce–don’t you just wait for his dtAlpha Talkback emails each week? I know I do. I love to listen to this man talk. He’s very generous with his information and the way he gives it to you is totally charming and inspiring.

Ted Demopolous, who wrote Blogging for Business, and a few more books on the topic. Smart and very nice guy.

And lest I forget, one of my favorite people–Mike Morgan, or “Million Dollar” Mike Morgan. His copywriting skills are so STRONG that his sales letters have already pulled in a million bucks in a day. Wish I could afford him.

And there’s going to be a cool mystery guest, too.

So you can see why I’m desperate to get this working. I just contacted a programmer. In my heart of hearts, I hope he can fix this.

Or, I’m going insane.

Want to come?

Go sign up for the series at http://blogging4boomers.com It’s free!

And then, check out the membership site. I have tons of great stuff inside and add more every month. You don’t have to be a Boomer, but we’re the ones coming online, trying to eke out just a little extra to survive.

I hear you! I feel your pain! I’m a Boomer, too!

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I just read a very cool post over at Jack Humphrey’s blog, The Friday Traffic Report. He’s on kind of a rant about all the Internet marketing gurus charging an arm and a leg for products that they know 90% of the people who buy them will never use.

Yeah. He’s right. But…

It’s not the gurus’ fault that people are too lazy to take action. It’s just the way of human nature.

But that’s not the part that interested me. He said that he gives 110% to the people he mentors. He wrote:

“I guess what I am getting at is that I know me. And people who have paid big money for my services know from that experience that I give everything I’ve got. They can tell there’s a country boy deep down inside me that blushes when he gets paid so much just to tell folks what he knows about marketing. And they ALL walk away appreciative and very much fulfilled from the experience. I make doubly sure of that. (Almost to THEIR embarrassment at times.)”

I’ve learned that from Tellman. The List Building Club is all about giving people value. We give them content that rocks. We give them the ability to ask questions and have them answered twice a month on calls. We offer tons of quality stuff.

But it’s only $29.99 a month. I’d say that’s what Jack’s getting at. It’s not about greed. It’s about giving value. I believe in that, too.

And so, it’s how I’ve modeled my site Blogging4BoomersinBusiness.com . I have clients that email me reguarly and I mail back to them the minute I can and answer their questions. If it’s too involved, they can find me on the phone every Monday night. I want to be there for them, you know? I have one member who told me today…

“WOW! Pat. You’re not only my favorite blog and SEO mentor, but you’ve taught me so much about interrelationship marketing. If everyone were like you, they’d have customers for life.”

Well sure, it’s flattering, but what makes me feel really good is knowing that I helped someone move forward. I remember stumbling around feeling stupid 4+ years ago when I got into Internet marketing. And I don’t want people to do that.

I really want to help them, and I love doing it.

But I can see where someday, I may not have the time to do as much as I’m doing today. And then what? Will I be one of those $2,000 product gurus who never gets near their customers?

I don’t think I will.

Part of the fun of being smart at Internet marketing and having information to share is sharing it. If I can’t do that, I don’t think it will be fun anymore.

Money’s nice to have, but it doesn’t pay the soul.

Popularity: 32% [?]