An OLD Adage continues to be TRUE in Modern Times!

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Dave

If you’re active on the internet, blogging, marketing, selling, or just looking… you’ve no doubt been exposed to a few (if not many) of the many new platforms used in the WEB 2.0 arena. What I’m referring to specifically would be Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, Plurk, SecondBrain, FriendFeed, YouTube and so many more. At my last count there were in excess of 80 some of these programs that users have access to and are constantly using.

One of the most frequently used and it would seem, one of the most talked about, is Twitter. During the recent elections in the United States, this platform was utilized by some of the network television commentators to gather input from the viewers and at times there were so many users sending messages, known as “tweets”, back and forth that the system just could not handle it and would temporarily cease to function.

When any program has that much popularity it’s obvious that if you are a user and have adopted it to gather attention to your online activity, whatever that might be, there’s a good chance that you will get a lot of exposure!

That is what a LOT of the GURU’s are teaching and many are following them right down the garden path to disaster! There is an OLD saying that teaches that you should NEVER put all your eggs in ONE basket! That’s what many users are doing today and their advertising program can (and will) come crashing to a halt if someone who is following them on Twitter decides that they don’t like what you’re saying or how you say it!

There are a couple of ways that Twitter users can handle your content that they don’t like on Twitter. The most POLITE way is to “un-follow” YOU if they’d rather not hear from YOU any more. That’s ALL they have to do.

Then, there are some jerks who like to assert themselves and they BLOCK Twitter users that they don’t want to hear from. When that happens, it pops up a RED FLAG to the “spam meisters” at Twitter and you’re likely to find your account suspended!

If you were using Twitter as your primary method of advertising… simply put… “You Are OUT OF LUCK, Charlie Brown!”

So, what do you do instead? If you still have a twitter account, keep on making your little tweets but do NOT count on twitter as your ONLY source of advertising! Spread it around. There are so many platforms in the WEB 2.0 community that you can benefit from and there are easy ways to do that… Stay tuned for more on easy ways to get your ad’s out to your readers.

David Perkins

(aka: trafficmechanic)
http://rejaw.com/trafficmechanic
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1347470596
http://www.myspace.com/trafficmechanic

A Scam that could be VERY expensive for you…

Posted on November 2, 2008 by Dave

I’ve noticed a trend recently in some of the email messages that have been showing up in the daily email… and it’s scarry! Especially if you are a newbie or maybe just “not aware!”

The Subject of the emails vary but the bottom line seems to be that YOU, as the reader, have lost a VALUABLE domain name because you did not respond in a timely manner to the notice that was sent to you by NETWORK SOLUTIONS! It does not seem to matter that I don’t use Network Solutions as my domain registrar… they just send the email anyway, hoping that I will be just curious enough to click on the link to Network Solutions that THEY send along in the email.

Instead of clicking on the link that they send… just “mouse over” the link and look in the lower left corner of your monitor at what the REAL link is… It’s NOT Network Solutions!

The bottom line of this post is this… Some one, or maybe a group of people, has your money as their target and if you go to their website and give them ANY information, you will likely loose. So, safeguard your information from these scammers! If you are concerned about YOUR domain names, go to YOUR domain name registrar and make sure FIRST that your domain names are still in YOUR account and safe.

Have a Great weekend and watch out for those scammers!

David Perkins

(aka: trafficmechanic)
http://rejaw.com/trafficmechanic
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1347470596
http://www.myspace.com/trafficmechanic

Hosting Your Website Safely and Economically

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Dave

You probably get emails all the time with ads for web hosting, both FREE and paid. Do you know the real difference between the two?

The first question I would suggest that YOU ask yourself is… Am I running a business or an ad agency? If you use free hosting, typically you will have someone’s advertisements displayed on YOUR website… and they’re not for you! And you have NO control over those Ads… they could wind up being XXX ads and you would never know unless someone told you or you saw them or… worst case, a potential customer emailed or called you and blasted you for having those tasteless ads on your site.

The other thing that you’ll notice with most free hosting is that you do NOT get to choose YOUR domain name… instead, you use theirs OR a modified version of it (tyically a subdomain). If you’re wondering what a subdomain is I’ll provide an example. One of my websites can be found at: http://www.Daveylee.net When I wanted to use that same domain name to display some photographs and stories about a time in my life when I lived on an island in the Pacific Ocean I created a “subdomain” of my domain name to handle that. It’s a function that exists in almost every hosting control panel. The Subdomain “name” replaces the “www” portion of the URL. The domain name for my life on the island page is: http://Midway.Daveylee.net

So, how do you prevent “Other People’s” advertisements on YOUR website? You prevent it by purchasing a hosting account from a reputable host. There are several kinds of hosting accounts that you can spend your hard earned money on. My philosophy is… if you work hard for your money, you shouldn’t have to work hard to spend it! It should be easy and you should get a LOT for it in your hosting account!

NOTE: You can always have “Other People’s Advertisements” on your website when they are PAYING YOU to have them there… That is an entirely different situation that you can PROFIT from and an entirely different subject for discussion some other day.
What are the different kinds of hosting accounts? Well… there are hosting accounts that allow you to host as many websites as you want to… all for “one money.” Some of the Pro’s who post regularly on the Forum’s say that those hosting accounts don’t give great results with the search engines… They say that you need separate hosting accounts for each website. I happen to agree… Other accounts only allow ONE domain for your money.
Does hosting have to be expensive? Absolutely not! You can get great hosting for $5 to $6 per month all the way up to $25 and more per month. My first hosting account cost me $25+ per month. Did I need that? Absolutely NOT! Then why did I do that? There was a forum where I could ask questions and get help. And yes, I went there and got help. Now that I’ve taken classes and read a huge shelf full of books on various subjects related to creating and operating a successful website, including forums, membership sites, blogs, autoresponders and more… I don’t feel like I need a $25+ per month account… so I DON’T! My accounts now are MUCH less Expensive than that.

There are other things that you need to look at when you’re considering what hosting provider to go with. If you’ve become educated, write your own code, understand how to install scripts, set permissions and understand what all these terms mean… then you probably won’t need a lot of hand-holding. You can handle just about any kind of host that gives you what you want.

If you do not know how to install scripts and all that other stuff… and want your host who provides a button that you can click to install a WordPress Blog on your site for you (or just about anything else)… then you really will have to purchase hosting from a company that offers you a control panel in your “back office” that does those things FOR YOU. That would likely be a “C-Panel” with a feature known as Fantastico. You can find hosting like this at HostMonster.com for as little as $6.95 per month. They make everything quite simple with lots of image based links so you can navigate the site easily. Check it out and I think you’ll like it a lot. I have an account there and I’m VERY pleased with it.

Have a great day and we’ll talk about more hosting services and other hosting providers soon.

David Perkins

(aka: trafficmechanic)
http://rejaw.com/trafficmechanic
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1347470596
http://www.myspace.com/trafficmechanic

Tips for tough times!

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Dave

In what many are saying is the worst economic downturn ever… how can YOU profit from your online BIZ and still look yourself in the mirror each morning?

When I check my eMail throughout the day, I find so many WILD claims and offers. Stuff (yes, stuff!) that only belongs in the trash… and that’s where most of it winds up! My question then is…. Are you writing eMails that will wind up in the trash or are your opening comments such that your readership will want to know MORE about your product or service and keep on reading?

These are tough times for many. All around the world! So… what to do?

My Number One suggestion is to OVERDELIVER! That seems to be something that so few online marketers do today. However, if you watch the marketers who DO OverDeliver… they’re raking in the sales by the boatload! You can do that too!

If your product has other uses that you’ve heard about, make sure to share those with your customers and offer a way for them to share NEW creative ways they’ve found to use the product (or service) with you and the rest of your customers. That will do two things for you: First you get REAL testimonials and Prospective Buyers see how their ideas can be appreciated and shared by others! They’re actually encouraged to THINK “Outside the Box!” Second, you begin to generate Brand Loyalty because of your perceived responsiveness to your customers.

My Second suggestion for these tough times would be to “Cut the Fluff” out of your product. So many offers include hundreds of other things that would do NOTHING but cause me to purchase a HUGE backup drive to download all the extra’s that the Seller tells me are Good Stuff. Like I said… cut the Fluff!

Instead… If someone is selling a script that you can use on YOUR website to perform a “useful” function, they should make sure that they have tested it and that it will work, as advertised, for YOU. I find it VERY useful to have a “test version” set up on MY SERVER that a prospective customer can actually use and observe the results of the product that I am selling to know that it really works… and then, having instructions on how to get it to work on THEIR server is, in my mind, paramount. Those instructions MUST work! If not, forget offering your product until you have real WORKING instructions.

I have, in the past, purchased so many products that had “Sloppy” instructions and I wasted SO MUCH time figuring out how to make that product work. That is NOT giving good VALUE with your product and you are not likely to get return customers…

Storing your Video and Multi-Media files… a Problem solved!

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Dave

Hi!

If you’ve been following the way things are being done online today, you’ve obviously noticed that there are tons of audio and video clips being used in promotions. It’s no longer the rage to just show pictures and have a sales letter if you want to sell something. You have to tell your audience about your item, your product or service… and to really beat your competition… you’ve ‘gotta show them! And here comes the problems… will YOUR server stand up under the load?

How often have you seen the emails from the GURU’s who have product launches and THEIR server has a melt down? It happens and it happens quite often. And not just for Guru’s… it often happens for people just like you and me!

Knowing that delays with uploads and downloads are not what users want… Amazon has come up with a HUGE network of servers that can and will handle the load for just about anything you can throw their way! Yes, audio, video, streaming video/audio and even both combined. And it’s affordable for the beginners too.

The system is known as S3 for Simple Storage Service. The pricing is quite inexpensive for this S3 system that can act as your own Personal Disk Drive. It’s only 15 cents per Gigabyte and if you do the math… you can’t find that price, with the service and reliability offered, anywhere else.

To make things really easy for ANYONE to use this service, we’re offering you a great eBook that explains exactly how to set up your uploads so that everything works perfect for you. You can read more about the book and S3 HERE