It would seem that our marvelous FDA has the idea that food has NO nutritional value. Maybe those in charge of the FDA should stop eating for a few weeks and see how well they do!

What spun me up enough to start out an article this way?

Today I received a copy of my favorite health newsletter and the lead article is about how the FDA is persecuting a company that sells WALNUTS. Why you ask? Because the company mentions on their website and in print media that there is “Scientific Evidence” that eating walnuts can AND WILL lower cholesterol in your body. In the minds of the FDA, if any food is PROVEN to do something good for you, it’s suddenly a DRUG!

So, big question… does that make your local grocer a DRUG DEALER???

Or the local Farmers Market a gathering of DRUG DEALERS???

I would suggest that you contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to put an end to this madness…

To read the entire article, go HERE.

There’s a lot of truth in that statement… and to build your list you do have to get your list building tools in front of a bunch of traffic. You do know what I mean by “list building tools” don’t you? Things like ‘Lead Capture Pages’ and splash pages or simply a web page that has you form ON IT! Whatever the tool is, it’s not effective if people are not seeing it. Agree?

One of the simplest ways that anyone can put their list building tools in front of a pair of eyes is though Traffic Exchanges. There is an actual exchange that occurs. You look at my page and I’ll look at yours! That is the simplest explanation there is. Actually using a Traffic Exchange (T/E) can be just a bit more complicated than that but not much.

Traffic Exchanges in their simplest forms are open to anyone who wants to view other people’s pages. You don’t have to be a member to look… only to show! So, why not join, show your pages and as you look at the other members pages… you’re earning credits that you can “spend” to have your page or pages displayed at a later date. Sounded like a great deal to me.

At the simplest level, you’re not likely to earn a full credit for viewing just one website. Maybe two, three or more views to earn one credit. But once you’ve earned it… it’s yours to spend later to buy views of YOUR pages. To increase the ratio (one to one or better) you can become a paid member of a T/E. Depending on the particular T/E and the membership levels that are offered, you can quickly earn a large quantity of credits to promote your page. And… even better yet, if you don’t have time to sit and view a ton of other pages to earn credits, you can often purchase credits in bulk and spend them as you see fit!

If you’ve looked around at some T/E’s you’ve likely noticed that most of them have banner ads, text ads and much more. You can also display banners and text ads on many of these websites. You simply use some of your credits to place your banners or text ads in the rotation.

The most pressing question I have always asked is which exchanges will give me the greatest return on my time and cash investment? There are lots of T/E’s out there and actually testing them yourself would be a royal pain… so why not go with someone who does the testing for a living? Someone who actually runs and tracks ads on all the top T/E’s. The Hit Exchange Report is compiled and delivered each Tuesday. Here’s a quote from their site: “One of it’s most popular features is the overall top 20. It’s a ranking of overall performance for the most recent 30-days. Data collected, around 1 million hits, is used to determine a composite score that then determines the ranking each week.”

This report is compiled using the following data:

Raw Hits + Primary Conversion + Secondary Conversion + Bounce Rate + New Visitors + Unique Hits + Commissions Paid = Overall Ranking

You can find out more about this report by visiting Traffic Hoopla today. The list we offer you in our “Top Ten” list of sites to surf comes from the latest list from Traffic Hoopla. We believe you’ll get the most beneficial responses from surfing these sites. Give it a go… Click HERE to view our preferred list of Traffic Exchanges.

If you’re in a big hurry, I do my best to keep the listings updated on our list that you can find HERE. There you’ll find not only the top ten sites as rated by “statistical data” collected by Traffic Hoopla but also the top ten sites as VOTED by users. These are not ranked by “statistical data” but instead by user preferences and votes. You know… those links that ask you to VOTE FOR…… and you either do or don’t! Next time, you can have an influence on how the list falls out… Join the group and then cast YOUR vote with Affiliate Funnel HERE.

Those two lists give you what I consider the most productive places to be surfing online today. If you want to get the most from your surfing, I feel that the schedule that I’ve put together an the sites on the lists at our page of T/E Surfing Groups shown HERE… using that schedule will get you some really great return on your time invested and those T/E’s reward you well for your clicking efforts.

Also, be aware that joining programs like Traffic Hoopla and Affiliate Funnel and adding YOUR referral information in the top programs of both lists… and then promoting the two programs will help build YOUR downlines in these T/E’s and as your downlines click away… you’re being rewarded with a percentage of the downline’s clicking as well. If you upgrade to PRO in any of these programs… the percentages of clicks and other benefits increase dramatically!

See you on the other side or… while clicking! Remember, use Splash Pages or Lead Capture Pages to get the MOST from your clicking efforts. Promoting a company’s “replicated website” will not do you near what your own personal splash page can accomplish. Need a quick splash page? You can make one easily. Trust me… If I can do it… anybody can! You’ll find everything you need, including a handy “How-To” guide HERE.

Colorado just killed thousands of small businesses whose revenues are based on affiliate sales. They follow on the tail 3 other states with similar laws in place already, and 14 more states nipping at their heels. Here’s why, whether you are an affiliate, or you run an affiliate program, you need to know how this rabid pack of looters can do serious damage to your business, maybe even kill it all together.

Amazon first to fight back . . .

Read the entire article HERE

What if you wrote four or five workable ‘resolutions’ for YOUR business and then implemented them? How would that change the way YOUR business works? I’m betting that the mere fact that you were seriously “doing something effective” would make a huge difference anyway…

So, what will YOUR resolutions be? Getting more Leads? Getting more Traffic to your website? How about converting more traffic into sales? Or how about a HOT product to sell? Maybe one you don’t have to “pack and ship?”

My goal here is to get you thinking. Thinking about YOUR business and ramping it up so that you can be profitable in the coming year(s). The best tips I can offer you are not some huge revelations that have not been shared before… so take hope! Like me… who had heard these things for a long time before I finally “got it” and began implementing what works!

So, What Works??? … you ask. In my mind… lots of traffic to a page that converts is at the top of the list! And just HOW do you get lots of traffic? There are many ways and your choice may depend upon your finances… so we’ll discuss some of them here and YOU choose.

For those who are challenged financially… there’s always FREE traffic from Traffic Exchanges. You simply join a Traffic Exchange, post your page(s) to be displayed to visitors to the exchange, and then you click through the pages the exchange shows you… and IN EXCHANGE (thus the term – Traffic Exchange) for doing that… the exchange shows YOUR page to the other members. I find it helpful to join a number of exchanges and promote my page(s) on all of them. Then I surf a group of them at once (described as tabbed browsing) and gain a much wider viewership and exposure to my page. The use of Splash Pages that display QUICKLY is most important for much success on these Traffic Exchanges. Make sure to capture a name and email address and having a timely “Giveaway” to make it worth your page visitor’s while to give you their information.

If you want to know WHAT Traffic Exchanges to use… There are two lists that I always look at to see where I should be surfing and those lists are at Traffic Hoopla and Affiliate Funnel. These two lists update weekly and you’ll find both of them posted on my Top Traffic Exchanges page. This page is updated regularly so you can BOOKMARK that page and see in an instant how your favorite Traffic Exchange is ranked today!

Another great way to get TRAFFIC to your web pages is through blogging. If your website is hosted by a company that gives you a CPanel to manage your server space, “One Click” of your mouse will set up a WordPress Blog for you in just a few minutes. Of course you can spent time and money “fancying up” a blog but that is NOT necessary. What IS necessary is for you to make regular posts about what YOU do and what you’re promoting online. If it’s pills and potions… write some short posts about the latest one, how to get it, what it’s purpose is and how YOU benefit from it. Keep in mind the new FTC regulations and don’t say anything that would get you in trouble. If you have any doubts… there are LOTS of sources for legal counsel and I am not on that list! But get some solid advice and in plain language… don’t lie, don’t stretch the truth… and medical claims are a quick way to trouble.

Maybe my choice of examples was not the best… but everyone today MUST begin being TOTALLY honest and truthful in their advertising. Often, you’ll find that “less is more” in cases where you would wonder if you should say something… or not!

All That Said… blogging is picked up instantly by the search engines. Bold your Key Words. Hyper-link one or two of them to your main web page. Then, post your article. Double click the title of your article and then copy the LONG URL you see in your browser bar. Now, go to http://bit.ly and shorten your link at bit.ly. Take your shortened link and “Tweet” it on Twitter to your following.

What, you don’t have a Twitter Account? Shame on you! (my opinion…) You have 140 characters in which to make a short plea and then share your bit.ly link.

So how does all this work???

1. You Tweet the short link.

2. Your followers read the Tweet and click your link.

3. If you’ve posted an interesting article, they’ll see the bolded keywords and hopefully click them…

4. That takes them to your page and if your offer is good and your “FREEBIE” is attractive enough… they’ll want it enough to give you their name and email address for it!

5. If you have an Autoresponder Account (I use AWeber.com) your form will do all that Double Opt-In stuff that makes your lead capture legal and then your autoresponder series of at least seven to ten messages can “Tell & Sell” them on the virtues of your product and why they should buy it!

Wow… I had no idea that I had so much to share about this subject and I’m just getting warmed up. If you’ll check back in a few days, I promise to post a few more tips on how you can get MORE FREE Traffic to your website and hopefully create more conversions.

Until then,

Best of the Season and Happy New Year!

Daveylee

If you have been reluctant to switch to more “green” ways of doing things… please be aware that there is more to being “green” than the environmental thing… It’s a real way to leave more “green” in YOUR pockets!

That’s right, thinking and acting “green” can actually save YOU money and help save the environment and natural resources for everybody.

Continuing on our list of great ways to save…

#7. Reuse Holiday Ribbon. As it said in the last tip on Christmas Eve… there is enough ribbon used each year to wrap once around planet earth!

#8. Buy rechargeable batteries. According to the EPA… about 40% of the sales of batteries in the USA happen during the holidays. If you buy non-rechargeable… dispose of them correctly when you use them up!

#9. Select gifts that don’t create waste or require a lot of packing. Gift cards without fees are a great option… or theater tickets, game tickets, dinner gift certificates and the like.

#10. When you finish with this year’s Christmas cards, put them away to cut up and use for decorations or gift tags.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year,

Daveylee

In this series of tips, please take a moment to consider where what you’re throwing away will eventually wind up… or what your doing consumes how much of the non-renewable resources of our country…

#3. As much as possible… avoid buying cards and envelopes with embossed or metallic paper. They use more resources and they’re not recyclable!

#4. When you’re outside or inside stringing those lights… make sure they’re LED lamps! Typically, LEDs are exceptionally energy efficient and use as much as 90% LESS energy than incandescent lamps.

#5. When you go shopping, bring your own bags. That cuts down on waste that goes to the dump!

#6. And speaking of re-using things… you can always put gifts in “gift bags” or decorated boxes that can be re-used over and over again… thus again keeping trash out of the dump! It’s especially important to keep ribbons and bows to reuse. According to an article in the Washington Post, if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.

Stay tuned for more tips in the next issue of our blog.

Daveylee

Join us for a series of tips on ways to keep your household lean and GREEN this Holiday Season.

#1. Remove your name from unwanted holiday catalogs. Most of us receive a bunch of holiday catalogs that we did not order or ask for. Before you recycle (you do recycle, don’t you?) your unwanted holiday catalogs, call the company’s customer service number and ask to be removed from their mailing list. If there’s no number listed, check for a website (most have one) and locate their contact information link. Click there and ask to be removed from their list. Include your full address information so they’ll be able to remove you!

#2. Buy Christmas cards and other holiday products made with RECYCLED paper.

Stay tuned for more Holiday Waste-Watching tips in the next day or so…

David