Posted by Mark B on November 23, 2009 under Other Useful Articles | 
Here is an excellent article by Aurelius Tijin that I hope you find helpful:
Slumps can be devastating. They can take an otherwise productive, happy person and reduce him to a lethargic, depressed, indifferent person.
If you’re in a slump right now, you know what I mean. You might have goals and dreams, but right now, they seem like a distant fantasy–unimportant and detached from reality.
And furthermore, when you think about it for long enough, you’re not sure what you’d even do if you were able to attain those dreams. Would your life really even be any better?
So what do you do? If you’re like most people, you take a break from all of your projects and aspirations. And you spend some time feeling depressed and indifferent to progress.
After a few weeks or months have passed, you exit your slump, but you do so very aware of how much time you’ve lost and how many opportunities you’ve forgone.
In the remainder of this guide, I’m going to help you to avoid that scenario. Instead of losing weeks or months to this slump or the next slump, you’re going to learn 21 ways to re-motivate yourself, refocus your life and goals, become happy and productive; and leave this slump in the distant past.
1. Take Action. Before you landed in this slump, you had goals, dreams, and lists of things you needed to do to accomplish them. At some point, you lost confidence in these ideas and stopped working on your projects and carrying out your dreams.
Well, it’s time to pursue those dreams once again. And you can do so by taking action. Ignore your feelings of lethargy and indifference and focus on making tangible progress. As you start checking things off of your “to do” list, you’ll feel better about yourself and the possibility of accomplishing your goals.
2. Ratchet Up Your Efforts. Working hard does not guarantee that you will accomplish your goals. But not working hard will undoubtedly ensure that you do not.
Be mindful of this when you’re deciding what to do for the day. Don’t simply drift along, waiting for your projects to make sense of themselves. Take control, make plans, and move towards them each day.
3. Pay Attention to People Who Have Succeeded. Just because someone else succeeded doesn’t mean you will. But it can provide a motivational example of path to your goal that has worked for someone else.
So, cast aside your doubts, stop telling yourself that you can’t do what others did–and instead take their examples for what they are: a source of inspiration and hope. And, most importantly, a means to get out of your slump.
4. Learn by Doing. If you’re faced with a complicated decision with no clear answer, one of the best ways you can move forward is to simply do, rather than thinking.
What do I mean by this? Instead of perseverating on the decision, pick one of the options in front of you; and move forward with your best effort to make it work.
If you fail ultimately, at least you can eliminate that path as a dead-end and then move forward with the other path.
5. Avoid Over-thinking. Thinking hard and carefully about many things is critical to success, but if taken to an extreme, it can become pathological. It can paralyze talented, driven individuals; and prevent them from attaining the success they would otherwise have.
So, next time you find yourself paralyzed by a decision, stop over-analyzing the situation–and just pick one path or the other.
6. Re-organize Your Work Area. No matter what you do, it’s always a good idea to have everything you need organized and within close reach. Re-organize your work area, so that it is a productive environment, rather than a sprawling, disorganized heap of documents.
7. Start Afresh. One frequent source of slumps is boredom. If you’re unhappy with your current routine, it may affect your ability to work and to accomplish your goals. Consider switching your daily routine to something new that excites you and motivates you to accomplish new things.
8. Reward Yourself. Surprisingly, slumps are very common among those who work hard. Why? Because, eventually they hit a wall, can’t figure out how to get around it, and keep working until they’re thoroughly burnt out and frazzled.
So, don’t do this. Set specific goals, accomplish them, and then reward yourself by taking the rest of the night off to relax. When you come back to your work, you’ll be happy and refreshed.
9. Visit a New Place. Instead of mindlessly chugging along with your daily route, break free and visit a new place. Take a drive to the beach or to a lake. Take a walk through the woods. Drive somewhere new and relaxing. Experience the small pleasures in life to demonstrate to yourself that there are reasons to move forward, to make progress, and to indulge in life.
10. Refocus Yourself. Slumps tend to make life feel unclear, unfocused, and pointless. Take some time to refocus yourself, re-think your aspirations, and decide what goals to keep and what goals to discard.
11. Schedule Things, Rather than Letting Things Happen to You. Don’t allow your schedule to morph into an unpredictable, unmanageable blob. Take the time to record things you need to do, schedule them into your life, and tend to them carefully. This is not only a good way to prevent disasters, but also to commit yourself to getting work done.
12. Physical Activity. The cause of slumps is not always or entirely psychological. In many cases, complacency and a lack of physical exercise can leave us in a mental fog. One cure for this problem is to get some vigorous exercise. Not only will it get your blood pumping and make your thoughts clearer, but it will also release endorphins, making you feel happy and more satisfied with your life and goals.
13. Eliminate Negative Thoughts. Skepticism and self-doubt are healthy when applied in moderation, but when they prevent you from achieving your goals, it may be time to reign them in. If you constantly find yourself doubting that you an accomplish something, instead re-direct your thoughts towards considering how you can accomplish it.
14. Challenge Yourself to Accomplish Something New. If you find yourself repeating the same tasks on a daily basis, you may become bored and complacent. Find ways to challenge yourself–for instance, by seeing whether you can do some task in half the amount of time–so that you engage your work and goals, rather than becoming indifferent to them.
15. Create Artificial Scarcity. Most people work best when they have no other choice. When that project is due in two days, you buckle down, stay focused, and get it done. But one week before that, you probably sat in front of the computer, “working” on it, but truly got very little accomplished.
Next time, start on the project later, rather than sooner. Save that extra time when you wouldn’t really be working to do something fun and refreshing.
16. Change Your Diet. Another frequent cause of “slumps” is diet. If you find your busy schedule forcing you into an unhealthy diet that causes you to put on weight and feel sluggish, put an end to it immediately. Not only will this help you physically, but it will help you to avoid the mental and emotional burden that comes with weight gain and unhealthy eating.
17. Spend a Day to Improve Your Productivity. Hard work isn’t the only ingredient in success. Another critical component is productivity. You can think about productivity as the amount you accomplish in each hour. So, spend an afternoon or even a full day figuring out how you can be more productive. This might simply mean re-arranging your filing cabinet or learning how to use certain programs on your computer better.
18. Simplify Your Goals. It’s often easy to convince ourselves that our goals have to be complicated and hard to achieve. But it many cases, there are achievable, simple goals that are still very desirable. So, take some time to decide whether you can make your goals clearer, simpler, and easier to attain.
19. Take the Path of Least Resistance. Instead of taking the path you think you “should take” or “ought to take,” instead focus on what paths cause the fewest problems and present the fewest challenges. If you can find and exploit these paths, you’ll save yourself time and make it easier to finish what you set out to do.
20. Sleep More. Many hard-working individuals whip themselves up into a frenzy; and convince themselves that they should never stop working. When taken to an extreme, this can be very detrimental to their goals. Keep this in mind when deciding whether to go to sleep or to keep working late into the night. If you don’t sleep, you might get more done tonight, but you’ll definitely be tired and get less done tomorrow. So go to sleep and come back refreshed tomorrow.
21. Make an Effort to Learn from Others. Rather than always focusing on your own stories and struggles, make a concerted effort to truly understand other people and their daily trials. Learn from them, absorb their stories, and use them to motivate yourself.
No matter how depressed and indifferent you feel right now, you have the capabilities to break out of your slump. You have 21 different ways in which you can do it. It’s just a matter of taking a handful of them, living by them on a daily basis, and pushing forward.
So, don’t let your slump get the best of you. Reclaim your career, your family life, your goals, your aspirations, and your hunger for new and challenging experiences. Leave this slump in your past; and return to your productive, happy life.
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Posted by Mark B on November 17, 2009 under Other Useful Articles |
As a full time internet professional, I use various methods of generating income from my websites. Multiple streams of income is the key to being successful long term, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
So in addition to the various affiliate marketing websites I run, I also use google adsense in the pages to squeeze as much money from my sites as possible.
If you use adsense, here are a few tips to help you maximise your income from them, provided by Kalena Jordan and Addme.com.
Google AdSense – http://www.google.com/adsense – is fast becoming the preferred way for people to earn an income online. Forget eBay and multiple affiliate programs. Whether you are a work-at-home mom trying to make a little extra cash or an Internet entrepreneur with hundreds of monetized websites, AdSense is truly the easiest way to earn money.
Simply sign up for a free account, grab your ad code and paste it in your site. But here’s the amazing thing – no matter how much money AdSense is making for you right now, a few simple tweaks can increase that amount considerably. And I should know, after learning about these tricks, I more than doubled my AdSense commissions!
The self-proclaimed AdSense gurus and experts are sharing this insider knowledge, for a fee.
You can learn all these secrets from them, as long as you buy their e-book, sign up for their seminar or purchase their newsletter. But I’m going to share all their AdSense tricks for free. Here they are:
1) Color code your ads to match your web site palette *exactly*. Don’t use frames around your ads. Instead, in the AdSense code generation interface, make sure you choose the same color as your page background for the ad frame and the ad background.
When choosing the ad heading colors, match them to the *exact* color of your page headings. Use the exact same ad background shade as your page background. Use the exact same ad text font and color as the text on your pages. You can see an example of this color-matching on my Search Engine Advice Blog at – http://www.searchenginecollege.com/blog.htm – notice the 4 link ad unit at the top and the skyscraper text ad unit on the left hand side under the heading Ads by Google as you scroll down the page? The link and text colors are identical to the color palette used throughout the rest of the page.
Near enough is NOT good enough. If you can’t quite get the color matching right, use Google’s built in color palette together with the RGB to HEX or vice versa color converter on this page – http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/Style. That handy little tool was a life saver for me.
This is probably the one single tweak that made the most difference to my commission levels.
2) Try not to use the traditional horizontal banner style or leaderboard image ads because people are blind to them.
3) Use Google’s own AdSense optimization tips at https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html and visual heat map to assist you in deciding where on your page to place your AdSense ad code.
4) Research competitive keywords using a keyword research tool such as Keyword Discovery at http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/ or grab a list of the most popular keywords from various sources and use them in your web site pages where relevant. This article – http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/2156041 – is a good source of frequently searched keywords. Targeting popular keywords should trigger AdSense ads on your pages that utilize those keywords. The more popular the keyword or phrase, the higher AdWords advertisers are generally willing to pay per click for it so the higher your commission on those clicks.
5) Incorporate the AdSense code into your page so that the ads look like a regular part of your site. You can see an example on this Internet Dating Stories site – http://www.lovestory.com.au/ – where link ads are incorporated within the regular left hand navigation of the site under the heading “Feature Links”.
6) Use Google’s new 4 and 5 link ad units wherever possible. They seem to have a much higher Click Through Rate (CTR) than regular ad styles. You can view all the AdSense ad formats at https://www.google.com/adsense/adformats.
7) Place arrows or images next to your ads to draw attention to them. You can see two different versions of on this search engine article library page – http://www.searchenginecollege.com/articles/article-library.htm – at the top (where a pointing hand directs your eye to the ad) and the bottom where 3 images draw your attention to each of the three AdSense ads.
Use the full allowance of multiple AdSense ads on each of your pages – 3 regular AdSense ads, plus 1 link unit. Use careful placement of these ads so they blend into your site and don’t distract from your content. Clever use of this allowance can be seen on this page about bad Internet dating stories – http://www.lovestory.com.au/bad-stories.htm – where you see:
- 1 horizontal 4 link ad unit towards the top of the page under the first paragraph.
- 1 vertical skyscraper text ad unit about halfway down the left hand side under “Sponsor Links”.
- 1 vertical skyscraper image ad unit down the left hand side under “Sponsor Links”.
- 1 horizontal text banner unit at the bottom of the page with images above each ad to draw attention to them.
You can also include 1 AdSense referral button in addition to the 3 other units.
9) Tailor your page content to a particular niche or focus. Page content that is tailored towards a specific theme is more likely to trigger AdWords ads that closely match the content and are therefore more likely to interest your visitors and inspire them to click.
Don’t create pages merely for the sake of placing AdSense ads. Visitors (and search engines) can see through this ruse in an instant.
10) Use custom Ad Channels for each of your ad placements, for example, “Top 5 Link Unit Blue Palette” or “Left Side Navigation Image Skyscraper” etc. Tweak, track and measure the success of each of these custom channels so you know what gives you the highest CTR. Some ad formats and colors will work better than others, but you won’t know which until you test, test and test some more!
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| About the AuthorKalena Jordan manages Search Engine College – an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects. |
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Posted by Mark B on October 30, 2009 under Other Useful Articles |
For any online business to survive, the marketing of that business is the most
crucial part of that Internet marketing business. Even if you have the best product
in the world, you must use the right marketing to make sure you have money constantly
flowing into your Internet Marketing business. You could own a sub standard product,
but make a lot of money if you promote it extensively. The crucial thing is, you
must market your Internet Marketing business like a qualified expert if you would
like to make a professional income using the Internet.
So where do you start to find a marketing strategy which sends hoards of traffic
to your websites? To begin with you simply to have to get started. Yes, start
straight away. I bet at the moment you have bought dozens of Internet marketing
products and signed up to membership sites and not moved forward. Your money
is much better spent on marketing your Internet business. Don’t get me wrong
you need to spend money on products which teach you how to make money online.
Spend far more money on essentially marketing your Internet business.
Remember this, you will never find out everything there is to find out about
Internet Marketing. By that time brand new information will have arrived. The
Internet changes so fast. You need to move with it, take action today. That’s
the secret of a real Internet marketing business. Until action is taken, nothing
productive will happen to your business. I’m afraid your ebooks will just sit
on your hard drive and not make you any money what so ever. So drop everything
and get your business off the ground!
One of the best places you could start and have your first real internet business
up and running within hours is at Google Sniper. The information here is proven
to work and step by step instructions are given, with videos if needed, to show
you exactly how to start. Click the link below to visit.
Google Sniper
Posted by Mark B on under Other Useful Articles |
With the economy in a downturn, everyone is looking for the Internet to be
their golden ticket out of this mess. The fact is most people have no idea how
money is generated online and scam artists know this.
Instructions
Step 1
Get your credit card out and buy the next big marketing product or system from
the biggest guru:
Nothing kills productivity more that stupid debt. In order to make money on
the Internet you have to create something, not buy. The only way buying something
will benefit you on the Internet is if you can sell it at a mark-up to someone
else. The rules for online business are the same for offline strategies as well.
Step 2
Surf the Internet looking for a get rich scheme:
Here’s a tip, the get rich quick idea is really just a scam. Like I said before,
you have to create something in order to make money. Surfing the Internet will
get you nowhere, you have to have something to sell. You can sell physical products,
information, traffic, leads, anything that will solve a problem.
Step 3
Be a salesperson first before establishing a relationship with the potential
customer:
A desperate message will turn people off. People hate to be sold, but they
love to buy. So create an environment where people will want to buy. That means
providing information so the customer can make and educated purchase.
Step 4
Don’t define any goals or objectives:
The great thing about the Internet is that it’s so wide open. You are only
limited by your own creativity. The problem is that it’s so easy to get sidetracked
that you never end up developing anything.
If you don’t define what you want to accomplish, you’re aimless and most likely
to not succeed. It might be best to start a list of things you want to do with
your online business both long and short term. Then create a schedule or action
plan for your next step.
Step 5
Sit on your hands and wait for something to happen:
Most people don’t make money in business because they simply lack action. So
this is your wake-up call, get moving! Create you goal, then some objectives
that will be used to accomplish your goal. Follow up with an action plan and
carry it out.
Step 6
Expect something for nothing:
We’ve all seen the ads, “No Selling, no work! Anyone can do this!”
Well if that were true everyone would be rich right now wouldn’t they? What
they’re not telling you is there is work involved. The good news is it can be
work you enjoy, you just need to build it in that fashion. Start with what you
enjoy talking about and create a blog. Build a following, then monetize the
blog.
Maintaining a blog is definitely work, but the key is having fun while posting
to your blog. Become the leader of your own network. Take time to interact with
your audience. This all takes time and effort, but it can be the most rewarding
way of making money you’ve ever experienced.
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Posted by Mark B on under Other Useful Articles |
You can argue what the most important things to look for are in joining a home based business, but to me here are the 4 most important.
1) BACKGROUND CHECK
Check into the back ground of the company. What kind of a track record do they have. Look into the person or persons that run the company, have they had prior experiences with running a company, and if so for how many years. Do they have experience with the product they’re marketing. Have they in the past started a company and closed the doors on it as soon as they made their money.
2) WHAT IS THE PRODUCT?
The product that they are selling, is it something that people would be interested in, is it a popular item. Is the product that is being offered better or at least compatible with other like products out there, both in price and quality.
3)WHAT TYPE OF TEAM BUILDING PLAN?
What kind of a team building system do they have, is it a left leg – right leg, is it a matrix, and if so what kind of matrix, or is it a straight line build.
The first two as exciting as one might make it sound are very hard to make money from. Here’s why, the left leg – right leg system works by everyone in the company bringing in people, all of those people go in your left leg and everyone you bring in goes in your right leg. Do the math, if there are 1,000 people in the company all bringing in people do you honestly think you can keep upwith that.
If you join a company that has a matrix to fill, that is also a very hard way to make money unless like the above you are able to sign up hundreds of people. The reason that 97% of the people fail in this business is because they just simply CANNOT find the number of people that it takes to sign up and build your right leg or a matrix.
That brings us to the straight line build, and this does nothing but make sense to me. A straight line build is where you join a company and secure a position like the other two. But here is why a straight line is so good. You don’t need to sign up hundreds of people to make good money, you can sign up as little as three people and
start making money. And here is the greatest reason of all to join a straight line build, after you have secured your position, everyone that comes in underneath you whether you signed them up or not, you will make money from those sign ups. Another great thing with a straight line build is that everyone is on the same team,
everyone helps everyone because, everyone benefits from each others success.
4) COMPENSATION PLAN
Let’s be honest, we all join an opportunity to make money. So when your searchingfor that perfect home based business opportunity the other thing that you are going to want to look into is the companies compensation plan. The two things I want to know, is the plan DUPLICATABLE and is it LUCRATIVE.
About the Author:
Charlie Berger is a leading Home Business Expert and Expert Author. Has been personally responsible for teaching many how to leave the 9 to 5 grind to enjoy the financial and time freedom you always hear about but few can show you how to achieve. See what Charlie is up to now at: http://www.thevacationgenius.com/r/finallyfree
