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Is It Possible To Have A Successful Internet Business?

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Question: Can a product launch formula help me finally find success with an online business?

The answer is YES! If you know how to get the right information and do it right the first time.

I got this letter (below, kinda long but worth it) from my friend Jeff Walker about 1-year ago today. I encourage you to read it in full. Jeff’s formula for launching a successful Internet business has been invaluable to me. It will be for you too.

Are you using a product launches (or re- launches) to jumpstart your business? I really think this is the missing link for gaining instant momentum and profits online.

Of course, why should you care what I think? Well, give me a couple of minutes to explain…

You see - I LOVE this Internet business… I have seen first hand how life changing it can be. And perhaps you found my last message a bit inspirational… talking about how ordinary people can have extraordinary product launches.

However, in this letter I want to talk a little about the other side of the coin…

You see, I have also seen how people can struggle in their Internet business - not making any money, as they pour thousands of dollars into their Internet dream. They chase after the latest “hot new technique” or they throw up worthless sites to make a few bucks from affiliate sales or adsense. Or they go to seminar after seminar, looking for that elusive Joint Venture that will change their
business for the better.

Even worse can be those businesses that limp along making just enough profit to keep hope alive. Well, “hope” is a dangerous, evil word in business. And these “hope” businesses that barely have a pulse have a huge hidden cost. They soak up hundreds of hours and suck a huge amount of energy from their owner’s lives… and those owners are left wondering why they are pouring their lives into a business that never seems to go anywhere.

Now don’t get me wrong… I am not trying to depress you. Because online business really IS the greatest thing that ever happened to entrepreneurs. It has changed thousands of lives (including yours truly) in ways that are almost unimaginable.

In any case, over the years I have studied what separates the people who are so successful online and those people who just struggle and never get anywhere. I have met and talked to lots of people in each category. (And, thankfully, I have helped some of the people that were struggling move into that successful category.)

And what I have determined is that it all comes down to one word:

>>> MOMENTUM <<<

Your business either has momentum or it doesn't. You either hit the ground running, or you are dead in the water. My friend Mike Long says I like to come out with "both guns blazing." I am definitely a non-violent kind of guy, but I have to confess that I am rather fond of that image. :-)

Here is a case in point... when I first introduced my Product Launch Formula home-study course, my back was truly against the wall. I was introducing a new course into a VERY crowded market. The "Internet Marketing" niche is hyper-competitive... there are dozens (maybe hundreds) of products released every month.

And even though I had been doing business online for more than 9 years, it was in a different niche - I had virtually no list in this market, and I was relatively unknown.

And as far as my back being against the wall - I was releasing a product on "how to do Product Launches"... I really had to show the world that I knew how to launch a product, or I would lose all credibility.

What I needed was momentum - INSTANT momentum. If I didn't come out of the gate FAST, then I would be another carcass on that huge pile of failed businesses (and broken dreams).

Well, I don't have time to tell the entire story here, but I used my own product launch techniques and had a rather spectacular launch. In seven days I generated more that $600,000.00 in sales.

That is MOMENTUM.

All of a sudden, my phone was ringing off the hook with people who wanted to promote my product, or speak at their seminar, or send me their product for review. My product launch put me "on the map."

And one other thing - those sales didn't stop after the first seven days. They keep pouring in, nearly every single day. Last month I did $58,823.00 in sales.

Now what would have happened if I had NOT put together a big product launch... if I had just released the product and relied on "hope" marketing?

Well, I can't say for sure... but I am willing to bet that results would have been very, very different.

Believe me - if there is ONE thing you need to build into your business, it's MOMENTUM.

And in my opinion, there is no better way to get instant momentum than with a product launch. Or if you already have your product out there, then do a RE-LAUNCH.

And if you don't have a product of your own, do a launch of someone else's product on a Joint Venture or affiliate basis.

Momentum is your friend - use it. To find out how to use my Product Launch Formula to put momentum into your business, go here now:

http://www.ProductLaunchFormula.com

best regards,
Jeff

P.S. Sometimes people see something like “$600,000.00 in seven days” and they just can’t imagine themselves ever doing something like that. I know, because a few short years ago I would have thought the same thing. That number is hard to comprehend.

But it’s like anything else, once you have one success then you just build on it… and pretty soon you are doing things that seemed impossible. When you look at a newborn baby who can’t even hold its head up, it seems impossible that they will be walking in 12 months.

I just recently talked to Shane Goldberg in Australia. He quit his job and started his Internet business just a few months ago. He created a tutorial product about how to use Photoshop and put together a product launch using my Product Launch Formula course. He did $30,000 in seven days a few months ago… and to quote Shane, he thought “It was FREEKIN’ AMAZING!!!”

Now Shane has just wrapped up his second product launch - I didn’t get the final numbers yet, but after the first four days he was already at $30,000… so he was certainly going to “beat” his numbers from his first launch. And he is planning an even bigger launch soon… this time to buy a new house for his wife and baby.

Shane built instant momentum… and soon he will be using that momentum to buy a house.

http://www.ProductLaunchFormula.com

How Do I Get More Comments On My Blog?

Question: I have over 500 hits and over 200 people that read my feeds…and only 1 comment. What do I do to get more comments on my blog?

Comments are great, don’t get me wrong, I love comments. I mean, that’s one of the best things about having a blog is people interacting with you, and you talking back to them. The discussion…

But, and a big BUT. (hehe). There’s something you need to know, and that is…

Comments are fun and good and all, but they don’t make your blog.

In other words, don’t worry so much about not getting comments. It isn’t the measuring stick for how successful your blog is. I’ve seen gigantic blogs with thousands of visitors a day get only a handful of comments. It just depends on the readers, and the content you’re developing.

That being said, here are some of my personal tips to getting more comments (If you must have them) :)

1. Get negative. People like to complain and commiserate. If you want lots of comments, complain about something and see how many people come quick to help you.

2. Ask questions. This is too easy. Simply ask your readers for their opinions. At the end of the blog entry write “What do you think?”.

3. Comment frequently on other blogs. Sometimes I go out of my way to participate in discussions on my friend’s blogs because they do the same for me.

Happy commenting!

How Do I Write A Blog With Multiple Topics?

Question: I’m new to blogging (5 days old) and I’m not sure how to approach my entries.

I have some blog entries where I’m sharing certain spiritual topics that I am learning about, entries about dreams I have, and some entries that are just about me. Is it a good or bad idea to mix topical entries with personal entries? Is it okay to mix the two..or should I have 2 blogs (one personal and the other spiritual topics)

One of the reasons blogs work is because they are relevant and on topic. People like to read about things they are interested in, so they come to blogs to be part of those discussions.

This is a tough question to answer, but in the end, I believe you need to look within and answer two questions before you can make a decision.

Ask yourself these questions.

1. Who’s reading my personal blog? And do those people want to read all of my life, or just some of it?

2. Am I writing my blog for me, or for everyone else?

In a business situation, I’m going to recommend you separate your blogs into different topics to keep things relevant.

In a personal situation. Well, I’d just do whatever I wanted to do. It’s your blog. And frankly, if something is a part of your life enough to blog about it, it fits on your personal blog.

Good luck, and have fun. It shouldn’t be work.

How To Put Google Adsense Inside A Blog Entry?

Question: How do you put Google AdSense ads in the middle of your blog post? I know how to add it to the top or bottom within the post but not sure how you put it in the middle of your posts. Thanks for the info.

Great question, and actually, the answer is much more simple than you imagine. In my experience, you can do it two ways.

The first way is to simply just do it manually. That’s how I do it here at AsktheBlogger.com. See the Adsense block above, just below the question? I manually placed it in using a simple cut and paste. The problem with that method is I have to keep a copy of my Adsense code handy for every post, and it’s unnecessary really.

The right way to do it is to use a Wordpress Adsense plugin. This one called the AdSense-Deluxe WordPress Plugin is great because it uses both Google Adsense & Yahoo! Publisher ads, your choice.

AdSense-Deluxe is an easy-to-use plugin for WordPress 1.5+ (including WP 2.0) for quickly inserting Google or Yahoo! ads into your blog posts, and managing when and where those ads are displayed.

What if I don’t use Wordpress?

Well, then I’m afraid you’re probably stuck manually pasting your code in the blog entry, or finding out from your blogging platform if they have some type of plugin you can use.

Just another reason to use Wordpress. :)

How Do I Redirect My Old Blogger Posts To My New Wordpress Blog?

Question: I’m in the process of migrating from blogger to wordpress. I got all my posts and images moved over and the permalink structure is the naming convention. Now, is there an easy way to update all the ‘hard-coded’ internal links within each post?

For example, when I linked to another post of mine within a newer post, I used the old blogspot permalink and those are still in the posts that migrated over. Please tell me I don’t have to go in to each post and manually change them all!

I just did this today with an old Blogspot blog. It’s not that hard, and it works great. Visit link below.

Essentially, what you’re trying to do is make sure that all of your old blog entries from your old blogger blog auto direct to your new blog. You’ve said that you’ve already migrated all the content over to wordpress, so that’s done.

Now you need to simple ensure that anyone who comes to your old blog at Blogger.com somehow and clicks on a link to another old Blogger.com blog entry of yours… that it forwards to your new blog, right?

Here’s what I found.

Worked like a charm! Did that solve your problem?

How Do I Put Ads On My Blog?

Question: How do I go about putting advertisements on my blog?

Putting ads on or in your blog requires that you know a little bit of “code”. Sure, it varies between blogging platforms, but with most you still have to be able to figure out how and where to place a piece of code that the advertiser gives you into your blog.

Don’t worry, it’s not that hard. Let’s use Wordpress (which AsktheBlogger uses) as an example.

Let’s say I want to place an ad in my blog sidebar. Here’s how I would do it.

1. Login to my blog account.
2. Go to “presentation”, then “theme editor”.

Now’s the tricky part. If you have not already set permissions on your theme pages, you need to do that now. FTP into your blog and look for the “wp-content” folder. In that folder you’ll see the folder of the theme that is powering your blog. Open it.

In that folder you’ll see a bunch of .php files. These are what power your blog, the pieces parts. Find “sidebar.php” and right click on it. Choose “permissions”. Now, change permissions to “777″, which means that it is now “writable”. In other words, it can be edited now.

Now go back into your Wordpress admin. Onto step 3.

3. Click on “sidebar” link. You’ll now be able to edit the file directly in the admin.
4. Copy the code from your advertiser and paste it into the sidebar area where you want it.

Now you can save the file and look at the blog to see how the ad appears. If it’s not in the right spot you want it in, go back and and grab the code and move it again. Keep trying till you get it in the spot you want.

That’s it! Other blogging systems may vary. Consult your blog help file for detailed instructions or contract your local blog consultant to help you out.

Do I Need Tons Of Traffic To Make Money Blogging?

Question: Can I make lots of money blogging if I don’t have any hits?

Lots of money? No. I’ll be honest. The very few bloggers that make “lots of money” are professional bloggers who have been doing it for years.

Making money blogging takes time, and effort. There is no quick fix. You need to build a readership over time through high-quality content, while being very consistent in your delivery of your posts and topics.

But here’s the very best piece of advice I can give you. Solve problems for your readers. Give them answers to problems (like I’m doing here, right)? Think about what you know that can help people and write a blog like that.

Now, on to your second question.

Can I make money without any “hits”?

Yes, but it’s hard to do. Without tons of “hits”, or better known as traffic/visitors/readers, you’ll never be able to sell enough advertising to make bank. But… there is hope.

You CAN make indirect income from your blogging efforts by building your brand name and becoming a thought-leader or expert or guru in your niche industry. When that happens, it doesn’t matter how many people read you, it’s all about how many of the “right” people read you.

Advertisers want focused eyeballs from their direct target markets. So if you can provide them with a small readership of their exact target market, you can get them to value your blog, and then pay you to reach those readers.

How Do I Put Videos In My Blog Entries?

Question: How i put videos on my blog?

I’m glad to hear that you’re thinking about this, because adding videos to your blog entries is a great way to engage your readers, and entertain them too. :)

Pretty much all you have to do is copy the code for the video you want to embed in a blog entry.

Let’s use YouTube as an example.

Visit this page at YouTube (one of AsktheBlogger’s videos).

See the area to the right of the video? There are two ways to “grab code” to use to link or show videos in your blog. (Are highlighted in yellow box)

1. You can use the “URL” code to create a hyperlink to the video page at YouTube. Or…

2. You can use the “embed” code to actually embed the video in your blog entry.

Embedding your video is the better method in most cases because it doesn’t require your reader to have to leave your blog and be interrupted.

How Do I Find Blogs About Money, Finances & Stocks?

Question: Are there blog sites that discuss stock trading, money and other financial kinds of things?

Not being a financial guy myself, I really didn’t know off the top of my head if those types of blogs existed. Wait, let me rephrase. I knew they existed, I just didn’t know what their web address was. :)

See, that’s the beauty of blogging. Anyone who knows about a niche topic can start one and begin publishing to the world.

But back to your question. Yes, there are blogs that focus on those topics. Here’s a list of blogs that I found that focus on finances or stocks. Happy trading!

The Internet Stock Blog (Seeking Alpha)
This one has been around for a long time. From what I hear it’s a great blog.

Check out the list at the bottom of this page for a whole slew of accredited big financial names and their blogs. I’m sure that these are the highest quality blogs out there.

If you can’t find anything you want there, well, there’s always a Google search.

Should I Move My Static Html Website Over To A Blog?

Question: My website now has more than 500 html pages. The task of making changes on my site has become too time consuming, not to mention the wear and tear on my poor fingers and wrists of a million copy-and-pastes. Should I move my static html website to a blog/cms solution instead?

The answer is a definite YES! In fact, it is this blogger’s opinion that anyone who produces content online should be using a blog software, or a content managment solution, to manage and publish that content.

There are so many reasons why you need to move away from having static html. Here are the main ones I can think of. Below are some options and tools you can use to make the switch.

Why move my static html website to a blogging platform?

#1 - Because the search engines like the way that blogs organize information. It’s very “neat and tidy” to them, which means they like the structure, which allows them to easily find what they need.

#2 - Managing html is so 2000. Seriously, even if you know html like I do, there’s no need to actually use it in today’s publishing world online. When your content is in a blog platform, you can simple edit it anytime without having to have an html editor open, and worrying about messing something up.

#3 - Blog software like Wordpress.org is built with server side includes built right into the designs/themes. In other words, if you are using Wordpress, and you wanted to change the header image on your blog, you simple edit one file and the image is changed on all 500 pages of your blog. If you have an old html static website, and you don’t have includes in place, you’re either going to have to do a search and replace (which can be tricky) or manually open every page and make the changes.

What tools should I use to make the move?

I highly suggest using Wordpress.org, which is what this blog uses, and best of all it’s free. If you are looking for something not so “bloggy”, I highly encourage you to use a piece of software called Article Manager from Interactive Tools.