7K Metals - Entrepreneur

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Top Ten Personal Branding Tools

1. Google Alerts

Google alerts are “email (or feed) updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query”. Use these alerts in 2 ways:

* Self-monitoring: Set up an alert for your name and any variations of it. Let Google crawl the web each day and monitor any chatter about you.
* Research: Is your personal brand built around expertise in a certain area? Set up alerts for relevant keywords and receive all the current news, blog posts, videos, and discussions on the topic – delivered straight to your digital doorstep.

2. RSS Feed

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. Simply put, it is a way to subscribe to a website’s feed. Do you have a few favorite blogs that fuel your personal branding fire or consistently deliver excellent, relevant content? Subscribe to the feed and never miss another post.

3. Linkedin

Linkedin is the world’s largest business-focused social networking site, and an extremely valuable tool for job hunters and those looking to expand their current network. But, just signing up is not enough. Fill out your profile to the max, grab your custom URL, and network, network, network. (Great tutorial here)

And, to really utilize Linkedin to the fullest, join several Groups relevant to your field. Linkedin is the most clutter-free social network you will find – Groups in particular are full of information and people willing to engage in great discussion.

4. Twitter

Twitter can initially be quite confusing. But hang in there, it is one of the best personal branding tools available today. Why? Because it is really 3 things in one package – a research tool, a sharing tool, and a networking tool. This slideshow tells the full Twitter story.

Don’t dive into Twitter headfirst. Dip a toe in, start by listening, and slowly immerse yourself as you get the hang of it.

5. Tweetdeck

Twitter is a great platform – but really, it is the 3rd party apps that turn it into something special. I recommend Tweetdeck, a desktop application that allows you to sort by favorites and view mentions and direct messages in their own columns. Tweetdeck automatically shortens links, and you can follow/unfollow users from within the application.

Below, I’ve set up searches for keywords. The # sign before the keyword is an identifier (known on Twitter as a #hashtag) that signifies the tweet is specifically about that particular term. You can set up similar searches for keywords relevant to your field, and receive up-to-the-second news updates

6. Facebook

Before you roll your eyes, consider these 2 facts:

Facebook has 300 million+ active users.
40% of these users are 35 years or older.

Facebook isn’t just for kids anymore. Business professionals and companies are both recognizing that the way to reach your audience today is to go TO them. If you want to form connections and build your own brand, go to where the people are. Right now, that place is Facebook.

While you are there, take the opportunity to learn – become a member of relevant groups or pages that will deliver beneficial content. (Pages and groups explained here)

7. Google Profiles

Google Profiles is a tool so simplistic in nature that it is often overlooked. Would you like to make it to the front page of Google search results in a matter of minutes? Of course you would! Google profiles generally appear towards the bottom of the first page of results, like this:

By now you will have likely filled out a profile on Linkedin or Facebook. Simply transfer over the same information to your Google profile, and link back to all other places you reside on the web. See below for an excellent example of a simple yet informative Google Profile by blogging and marketing expert, Chris Brogan.

8. ping.fm

If you sign up for all the social networking sites listed above, you might become overwhelmed updating each site one at a time. Fear no more. With ping.fm, you can update to almost all social networks you can think of, simultaneously. Or, you can pick and choose groups. Want to update your Facebook and Twitter status, but not Linkedin? Only a click away.

9.bit.ly

bit.ly is the king of link shorteners, converting long URLs into a manageable, social-media friendly length. But, bit.ly is way more than just a one-trick pony. The real magic comes after you create and share the shortened link.

With bit.ly analytic tools, you can track how many clicks your shortened URL receives. This knowledge turns your personal branding efforts into a more measurable activity. Instantly, you can see who values your suggested content enough to click through to the page. And, (peeking ahead to tool #10) this is even more important if the link is to your own content.

10. WordPress

Last, but definitely not least, is WordPress. WordPress is one of several highly popular blog publishing platforms, and the option I recommend. If you only choose only one of these 10 tools, make it this one. An individually published blog is mandatory when building a strong personal brand.

Your goal is to establish yourself as a thought leader, as an expert in your field. You can’t do that from Twitter in 140 characters, or in a Facebook status update. The tools leading up to this one have been building blocks – use them all, and let your blog be the ultimate showcase for your personal brand. (But, starting a blog is not easy. Read these 40 tips for direction)

Wordpress

The Best Starbuck Man.

Randy Flaherty
powerman297@hotmail.com

*10 Laws of Facebook

*10 Laws of Facebook

1. Location - Facebook enables advertisers to target by country, state/province, city, and metropolitan areas. All
advertisements are required to have a location selected. This should be pretty straight-forward as to which location
you’d like to select.

2. Age - Age is a standard demographic factor. Most marketers that have a well defined target-market will be able to
select their age.

3. Birthday - This is one of Facebook’s latest advertising targeting filters. It should be pretty obvious what types of ads
should be presented to people who’s birthday it is. Try wishing the user a happy birthday and offer them a gift for
higher conversion rates.

4. Sex - Gender is another typical targeting filter for Facebook.

5. Keywords - Keywords are based on a user’s profile information including Activities, Favorite Books, TV Shows,
Movies, and more. I believe job titles are included in this field as well. Typically I spend the most time trying to
brainstorm effective keywords. What types of products do your customers like? What’s their job position within an
organization? Spend time on this field and you’ll be rewarded.

6. Education - While you can target based on their level of education, this is most effective for targeting ads based on the
schools that people went to. Want to announce a reunion for the University of Illinois class of 1996? This is a great
way to promote it.

7. Workplaces - This is another great targeting filter. Often times you will know the companies that your target market
works at. If you are looking to get new clients or looking to spread awareness within specific organizations, this filter
can be priceless.

8. Relationship - Want to target people that are about to get married? This is a great tool for that. If you are a bar or
club, you most likely want to go after those people that are single. While this filter can be useful, you also need to
keep in mind that selecting any of these settings will remove all users that haven’t selected a relationship status in their
profile.

9. Interested In - This factor is useful if a user’s sexual preferences are relevant to whatever you are advertising. I tend to
skip this field for most of my ads.
10.Languages - If your ad is in English but the user speaks Chinese, it’s probably not a good idea to be displaying ads to
them.

11.Connections - The connections field were recently launched by Facebook and they enable you to include and exclude
users based on pages, events, and applications that the users have joined and you happen to be the administrator of.
If you’ve create a Page and don’t want the ads to display to people who have already joined, this is a great way to
avoid duplicate clicks.

If you aren’t taking advantage of the numerous targeting factors then you aren’t using Facebook advertising effectively. In
order to have an increased conversion rate on your advertisements, increase the targeting in order to make the
advertisement more relevant for the users. Relevance will get people to respond to your ad.

Its Free To Down Load.

http://www.allfacebook.com/downloads/laws-of-advertising.pdf

How to Use Facebook for Business - How to Use for Business (PDF File)

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

The Secret of Personal Branding

I wanted to share this article
with you, The Starbuck Man. :-)

by Jorgen Sundberg - Posted on 25 November 2009

You might have heard about personal branding, it is a much hyped concept that is all over the web at the moment. How does it affect us normal folks and what can we do to make the most of personal branding? This article will briefly explain what it is, what you should be doing and what you can expect from it.

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is how you project yourself to the world, how you create and maintain your image. Your brand is just as much about your profession and career as your background, what type of person you are, your interests and any interesting facts.

Personal branding is essentially very similar to company branding, for example the golden arches of McDonald's or the jester used by The Motley Fool have become instantly recognizable as part of those companies. This is what you want for yourself, you want to stand out from the crowd and be memorable.

Personal branding is where you and your career are bundled together into one. It’s the way you market and promote the image of yourself. What you do and what you are all about and above all what you can do for others. Compare your personal brand to a rock star’s image, something that needs to be maintained.

All interaction you have with other people make up your personal branding. Having a meeting, making a phone call, sending an email are all activities that demonstrate your brand. Offline and online, you only get a few seconds for a first impression so you will want to get it right.

Do I need a personal brand?

You already have one. What you need is to maintain it and make sure it projects what you want it to by staying consistent continuously improve it. You will want to take control of your brand because you want to be noticed and stand out from the crowd. It will help you to be seen by current and prospective clients, business partners, employers and so forth. You want people to remember who you are and what you do.

Your online brand

First impressions count, also online. It's free and very simple to sign up for online networking sites and they are great tools for promoting your brand. Any typical professional will have a profile with Linkedin or Facebook, some will have lots more than this. As long as you use and maintain your profile in the right manner, you are on to a winner.

Try gogling your name and see what happens. Now consider that others (prospective customers for instance) do the same. Are you happy with what they see? If you were a client, you would probably want to see a supplier with a professional profile on Linkedin and possibly other platforms.

We already know that headhunters and HR people are all over LinkedIn like a cheap suit. Guess what, they also cross reference you on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and other sites to see that you are not simply putting on a corporate act. Make sure the brand you project is consistent and well positioned, it will help you to get that raise, promotion or even a new and better job. Just like having 20 recommendations on LinkedIn weighs in your favor, one ‘wrong’ photo can be a complete deal breaker and leave you regretting ever signing up for that service.

My experience

I have long been prolific on LinkedIn and used it as a tool for expanding my network and to do research on people and companies. I have a large and growing network which has supported me when building this site and even coming up with ideas for posts. I set up The Undercover Recruiter to promote myself as well as the blog. Setting up a blog is optional and perhaps not the first step you want to take, although if you have the time it is definitely worth looking into. I promote this blog across a few platforms (mainly LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter) and try to have exactly the same brand on all of them.

Call to action

Make sure you are consistent with everything you communicate to the world. This includes how you speak, your emails, online presence, your resume and even how you dress. Will your prospect customer be surprised or even disappointed when they meet you for the first time? You have to make sure you are one and the same across all channels and you will then come across as genuine and trustworthy. Share information about yourself, tell stories and inspire others. Add some personality to your brand, we all know it’s easier to sell on emotions than facts. When you think you are finished, anyone should be able to locate you online and find out what you do and what makes you special. If this isn’t the case, you need to put some more work in.

Bottom line

You need to be aware of your personal brand and you should ensure that you are projecting the right image of yourself. By being consistent and congruent, online and offline, you will build up your image and people will notice and trust you. As long as this is a positive message, you will improve your chances of having a great career/building your business/making friends/whatever your goal is.

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

" Affirmations Work and Here's Why" :-)

" Affirmations Work and Here's Why" :-)

I just wanted to this with you
By Gwen Phillips
Thank you, Starbuck Man. ;-)

Affirmations work because:
• Our present reality is a direct result of our thinking
• Affirmations change our thinking.
• Changing our thinking, changes our reality
There are many ways you can practice affirmations. You can write them down; you can post sticky notes around your home, on your desk or in your car. You can use affirmations with the "mirror technique". You can use affirmations during meditation and visualization.
Here are some basics you need to know to begin using affirmations:
Use the Present Tense
Affirmations should be stated in the present tense. For example; "I am whole and healthy now." Try not to affirm something in the future tense, as in “I am going to be healthy”. Our subconscious minds will always be waiting for something to happen.
Use Positive Statements
Create affirmations in the most positive terms. Avoid negative statements. State what you do want rather than what you don’t. Don’t say something like “I don’t want to be sick anymore.” Instead state something positive such as “I am healthy and happy.”
Use Repetition
The importance of repetition is key. Positive statements need to become imbedded into our subconscious mind. Many times we have been thinking negatively for so long we don’t even notice. First, begin to notice. Then when you hear yourself saying something negative, stop right there and replace the thought with one of your affirmations. We need to repeat these affirmations until they become the first thought. Later on we will talk about various ways to practice affirmations which will help you do just that.
Use Strong Positive Emotions
Affirmations coupled with emotions are particularly powerful. Try to use affirmations that resonate with you. Focus on what you are saying and what the words mean. Don’t just say them in a rote fashion as though repeating your grocery list for instance.
Use Persistence
Not being persistent is one of the reasons that many people say affirmations don’t work. It takes practice and persistence. Regularly practicing will work, but only using affirmations for a short while or just here and there will not produce the results you are looking for in your life. Make it a part of your daily routine. It will become easier the more you practice and when you start to see the results then you won’t want to quit. As they say “don’t stop before the miracle happens.”
Use Belief
However, you don’t necessarily have to believe your affirmations initially. Your belief will grow. It may help to realize that whatever positive affirmation you are using is in actuality true. We already have within us the ability to have the results we desire. The truth is already alive in potentiality just waiting for our permission to manifest.
Here are a few sample affirmations to get you started.
I am free to be myself.
I am free to be at one with the Universe.
I am free of resentment and forgive myself and others.
I am worthy of love.
The more I love, the more that love is returned to me.
Love is eternal and ever-lasting.
I am responsible for my life and always maintain the power I need to be positive and have joy.
I am at peace with the Universe.
I love and accept myself.
I am unique and loving, loved, and free.
I am safe and always feel protected.
I am surrounded with loving, caring people in my life as I see them through the eyes of love.
I am loving and accepting of others and this creates lasting friendships for me.
I am trusting of my inner self to lead me in the right path.
I do all I can every day to make a loving environment for all those around me, including myself.
I am always connected with the Divine Love in the Universe.
I am clear and focused through my inner vision.

Allow your life to be blessed. Start creating and using affirmations.
For more ideas and complete instructions on creating and using affirmations, sign up for my free e-course. It’s fun and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Find a surprise at the end of each lesson.

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

* 12 Kickass Ways to Love your Job and Life * :-)

Today, I want to give you and share you another number of challenges in your workplace such as:

Just how happy are you at your workplace?

No matter how well you do your job, you may not always be appreciated or rewarded for the work you do.

You could also face a number of challenges in your workplace such as:

• Little fulfilment
• Long hours and tight deadlines
• Conflicting demands on your time and loyalty
• Little balance between personal life and work commitments
• Strained relationships with the important people in your life
• Lack of any say at work
• Internal politics and a rigid company structure
• Bullying within the workplace
• Few promotional opportunities

So just how do you cope?

At the end of the day, you want to be involved in fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable, get recognition and promotion for your efforts, and be appreciated for the work you do.

But at the same time, want a balanced life with time for the things you really want to do with a full and interesting social life. Of course you want to have clarity about your career, job duties and you want to continue to be healthy, fit and stress free.

It seems a lot to ask for - and the key for resolving these seemingly conflicting challenges is to get clear about just how much you love the work you do?

Is what you do for work make you jump out of bed every morning?

Or would you rather be doing something else?

No matter how good things are in other parts of your life such as family, social life and relationships, work is a major part of your life, and not to be neglected.

Since for now you have chosen to be in the job you are in, it is up to you for the time being to make the most of what you do. Of course in the long term, you can either change your job or even embark on a new career. But for now, you can get to love more of what you do right now.

Assuming that in the short term you are not able to change jobs, there are a number of things you can do to begin enjoying more of what you currently do.

Ask yourself - is it the job or is it you?

And what can you do to make your current work more enjoyable?

Stop acting the victim. YOU are responsible for your life and if you can’t immediately change the job you are in, then it is up to you to make the most of it.

Here are 12 tips to enjoy more your current job.

1. Get motivated to face the day:-)

On the way to your workplace, think of how the work you have allows you to have your life outside of it, such as a great social life. A positive attitude will make the day more pleasant and productive.

2. Keep your work in perspective :-)

You can only do the best you can in each situation. Look beyond yourself and your work, and consider the bigger picture. Do some voluntary work to gain a broader outlook. Find a way to contribute to society in general.

3. You are more than your work :-)

Do not have your identity too strongly tied to the job you do. Give up thinking that your work life “should” be a certain way. Such expectations of what you were supposed to be, as set by your parents and teachers, stop you from enjoying what you currently do.

4. Plan your time and create a to-do list.. :-)

In this list, include long term projects as well as the more imminent things that need doing.

Prioritise your to-do list - do the most important things first. When performing any task, ask yourself - is this the best use of my time? Schedule in enough time for your studies etc.

5. Concentrate on the task at hand :-)

Do not let yourself be distracted by worrying about all the other things to be done or losing energy over the undesirable situation you find yourself in. Stay in the moment.

Be ruthless and take care of a task before it gets on a possible procrastination list. For example, sort your morning post immediately in one go – open it, file it, act on it or bin it there and then.

6. Be clear about what's expected of you :-)

Clarify immediately, any time you are not sure or where you are faced with conflicting demands. The more clear and upfront you are with your manager and the other people you work with, the better it will be for you in the long term.

7. Delegate wherever appropriate :-)

Decide if there is anything that can be delegated, or that more fairly belongs to someone else's work load. Always remember the “3D” rule – do it, dump it or delegate it - never handle a piece of paper twice.

8. Have regular breaks :-O

Get away from your normal workplace even if only for five minutes. Try taking a break from the laptop, emails and do leave the mobile behind. Make sure that you do have that lunch break – it is not just for food but also for fresh air and a mental break.

Eat a healthy lunch and if you must snack, make sure it is healthy too – an apple rather than a bag of crisps. Look for ways of energising yourself, other than from adrenaline and caffeine.

9. Learn to relax :-O

No matter how challenging the work gets or how demanding your bosses become, it, at the end of the day it is only a job and you are much more than that. In years to come, you will look back and wonder what the fuss was.

10. Make your workplace more pleasant :-)

Contribute towards creating a pleasant work environment. Do not gossip in the office as it just creates negativity all around. Do not listen to any gossip either. Minimise your time with people that you do not resonate with or like.

Learn to have more fun at work. Laugh more and chill out. Perform with a more fun orientated approach.

11. Review your day before you leave for home :-)

Look at what worked well, and what could be improved the next day. If you feel satisfied with the day’s work, then why not reward yourself later that day. You deserve it.

12. Switch off once you leave work ;-)

You are already at work a third of your time, so do not continue to keep it buzzing in your head during your supposed free time. Mentally say good bye to your work space the moment you leave for home.

See your work as a game. Life is meant to be fun and if you are going to spend a third of it at work, you might as well enjoy the game.

Enjoy your work - and if it comes down to it, you can always find something better in the medium to long term.

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 320-239-4537 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 320-239-4537 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 320-239-4537 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 320-239-4537 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

"The 10 Best Personal Branding Tips & Articles" :-)

Personal branding is very different than product branding, except that the entity being branded is you. Just like Nike uses its brand to attach a certain personality and uniqueness to the shoes it sells, your personal brand is made up of the qualities and unique traits you relay about yourself. Your personal brand represents the way you want other people to think about you.

Personal branding hinges on perception and the stories you tell about yourself: the things you emphasize and the things you don"t. Does personal branding involve lying? It shouldn't. More than that, it should not have to. You don't need to be a rock star to build an extraordinary personal brand. :-)

Today, I want to give you another way to brand yourself in today’s internet.

If you know something (Topic) better than the average person than you will need to look for a forum that related to the topic.

After you sign-up for this forum you need to start communicating with other people and showing them that you have a lot of knowledge and you can help them by answer questions that people in the forum asking.

If you will join couple of forums in your topic and you will be active there, eventually people will look at you as a pro in this field and you will become a guide or guru for them. :-)

“Here are some ideas of quick personal brand-building steps you can take right now.”
** The 10 Best Personal Branding Articles.**

by Starbuck man on Aug 15, 2010

I found this article and wanted to share…

This is a great source of information about “Branding Yourself”.

Enjoy ! :-)
12 Kickass Ways to Love your Job and Life, by Arvind Devalia at The Undercover Recruiter.

“See your work as a game. Life is meant to be fun and if you are going to spend a third of it at work, you might as well enjoy the game.”
We Can Do It, by Seth Godin.

“Successful people rarely confuse a can-do attitude with a smart plan. But they realize that one without the other is unlikely to get you very far.”
30 Valuable Lessons Learned Using Social Media for Small Business, by Mark Hayward at Problogger.

“After almost three years of working hard, learning continuously, making lots of mistakes, and monitoring successes, below are thirty valuable social media marketing lessons that I have learned through my experience.”
How to Give Yourself a First-Class Online Business Education, by Sonia Simone at Copyblogger.

“Today I’m going to talk about what I’ve learned, so if you’re a little earlier on the path you can avoid some blind alleys.”
New Twitter Tools for Job Seekers by Jessica Miller-Merrell of Brand-Yourself.

“These tips will help you turn Twitter into the ultimate networking tool…”
Stop Talking About Yourself, by Chris Brogan.

“Check your last 10 blog posts, your last 10 tweets. Are they all about you. Are they all about your products, your services, whatever it is you’re pushing? How many are about you versus those that are about others…?)
Four Reasons Why Focusing on Goals Leads to Failure, by Melissa Cooley.

“There is such a huge focus on the goal of getting a job that the process of attaining that goal is all but forgotten.”
How Guest Posting Builds Your Brand, by Ann Smarty at Personal Branding Blog.

“…per my experiencethere is nothing as effective for self-branding as guest posting.”
25 Easy Ways to Grow Your Personal Brand in 5 Minutes, by Jacob Share at Personal Branding Blog.
** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best :-)

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

"Brand yourself first & How to Draw Attention to yourself"

Brand yourself first.

Whatever program or company you are promoting; NEVER spend money or time promoting their site. Regardless of how good the lead capture pages, splash pages or site looks. Ignore all the hype thrown out, do not promote that site.

The only thing you should ever promote is yourself or a site that you own.

This does not mean make a unique splash page to promote the company you are in. I am talking about making your own site, that builds your list first, so you can form a relationship with the lead, so when you make offers to them they will listen to you and act on the offer.

This is not an easy task; there are many things you need to know in order to have a site that works and a list that is worth having.

So where do you start?

The most important thing is to decide how you want to present yourself or your site to the world.

Or, in other words, how will you brand yourself?

What position do you take?

What do you want people to think when they see your name or site?

This is called branding.

Done well, this will assist your empire building no end.

So think about what you stand for and how you want to be seen by your team and buyers.

Then write it down.

Once you write it down, think about words that describe your point, or think about the name and decide now what you want people to think when they see your name.

After you have decided what you stand for and what you promote, you become well branded, and in time people will see your name and will know what is involved the second they see the brand.

No thinking required, just instant recognition.

Put in the effort before you start, develop your brand, then promote you brand.

Rodney Goodall has spent his life training and building teams in a retail environment.

Since shifting his focus to online marketing, he has written numerous tutorials and aricles for other people. Now that he has learnt the ropes, he is now applying the knowledge to create his own list and build a team of people who all recruit.

"How to Draw Attention to yourself"

1. Think of when they think of you, and it requires time and consistency to build a brand. Say you're at a new school and you want to make friends. Your brand then, should include characteristics like loyalty, friendliness, and fun. Do things that build this brand and make you a more appealing potential friend. Other examples of brands include the "bad-boy image." Be careful, though, or you'll look like you're trying too hard. :-)

2. Be original. Looking at the stereotypical brands mentioned in the last step, you may think, none of those are really what I want. That's perfectly all right. You can brand youself as pretty much anything, and whatever your brand, it should reflet your personality and original style. If you're the same as everyone else, you won't draw attention. Just remember, once again, that if you're obviously just trying to get attention, that will be your brand. :-)

3. Be outstanding. When we think of the word "outstanding," we usually think of excellence, but being outstanding also means to "stand out." If you want to stand out, do your best to be the best at something. If you want to draw the attention of your spouse, for example, be the best husband or wife you can be. If you want to get a better job, be extaordinarily competent in your current job and seek to learn more to advance your career. You don't always have to be outstanding at something that's directly related to your goal. For example, you'll find that people who are very succesful in whatever pursuit they choose in life often draw the attention of, or date, beautiful women or good-looking guys, even if their particular field of excellence has nothing to do with being a good mate. If you're outstanding at something, just about anything, you'll draw people's attention. :-)

4.Be subtle. A patient, subtle approach is important in developing your image because if you look like you're trying too hard to draw attention, you'll simply end up branding yourself as someone who craves attention, which is generally not a desirable attribute. As an example, imagine you want to get attention in order to make friends. If you stand on your head and insult people, you'll likely get attention for a little while, but you probably won't make friends--everybody will know you're just desperate for attention. On the other hand, if you draw attention to yourself by wearing a smile, making a conversation with people, or joining a sports team, you'll build a more positive brand and get more attention in the long run. :-)

5. Be humble Be outstanding, be confident, be assertive, but don't be arrogant. Even if you truly excel at just about everything, people will try to tune you out--or even resent you--if you are a jerk. Don't tell people how awesome you are, show them, and don't make a big deal out of it. Don't blow your own horn too much. :-)

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 320-239-4537 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

7 WAYS ‘STOP & GO EATING’ WILL BOOST YOUR FAT LOSS IN 18 HOURS:

1. "Increases Your #1 Fat Burning Hormone"
Growth Hormone is the most important fat burning hormone in your body. Stop & Go Eating pushes growth hormone production into high gear and this makes your fat burning furnace start to work overtime. Stop & Go Eating also decreases your insulin levels, which helps your body burn fat instead of storing it.

2. "Increases Fat Burning Enzymes"
Stop & Go Eating will sky-rocket the activity of two of the most important fat burning enzymes in your body. HSL (Hormone Sensitive Lipase) is the enzyme responsible for allowing your fat cells to release fat so it can be burned as energy in your muscles. LPL (Lipoprotein Lipase) is the enzyme responsible for allowing your muscle cells to take up fat so it can be burnt as a fuel. Stop & Go Eating increases both of these enzymes to optimize fat burning.

3. "Burns More Calories"
This technique actually increases your metabolism and energy level, thereby increasing calorie burning. And you already know the more calories you burn the faster you can lose weight. Many are shocked at how awake and energetic they are during their 1st experience with Stop & Go Eating… often their most productive day of the week!

4. "Burns Fat Instead of Sugar"
Stop & Go Eating shifts your metabolism from burning blood sugar to burning mostly body fat. When you eat a meal your body likes to burn carbs first, then the fat from your food. Any extra fat that your body can’t burn in the few hours after you eat get stored as body fat. When you fast your body has no choice but to burn stored body fat. By the end of a Stop & Go Eating period, your body is burning way more fat than it would during a regular day of eating.

5. "You’ll Finally Find Out The ‘Why’ Behind Your Eating Habits"
The most surprising benefit people report back when they try out this technique is a new found awareness of what causes them to eat the way they do. When you make a conscious decision to do this Stop & Go Eating for even one day, your less than flattering eating motivations become painfully obvious. This can really help you STOP BAD HABITS for good. I’ve said many times (and it’s TRUE) that knowing what your motivations are for poor eating choices is essential before you can change them and build better habits.

6. "Builds Positive Attitudes Towards Yourself and The Foods You Love"
Those that try this technique report that they see it as an accomplishment that can build self-confidence and gratitude. At the end of a Stop & Go Eating session, you can feel good about your accomplishment and start feeling good about your relationship with food again. This empowered feeling only builds over each time you use it, until you feel completely in control of your food choices.

7. "Makes It Easier To Enjoy The Foods You Love, Guilt Free"
Depending on how you do it, Stop & Go Eating allows you to drop more weight and inches without the restriction of most popular dietary plans… if you’re like me and have tried those crazy fads, you know exactly what I’m talking about. When you try Stop & Go Eating just every few days, you can let loose a bit more and have the confidence and habit not to over-indulge because you are now even more in-control of your food!

You might have guessed from the facts above that we’re talking about a very different and unique twist on an old technique, more commonly know as fasting.

Now, quite honestly, I hate fasting, but I actually LOVE Stop & Go Eating.

"Here is why:

1. Stop & Go Eating is much more effective and easier to do than fasting.
2. You only need to do this for 18-24 hours, once or twice per week…that’s it!
3. My very first try at Stop & Go eating worked so well and was so easy (after the first few hours), I’ve been doing it off and on ever since.

Now, there are some other tricks you’ll need to know to get the most out of this powerful technique…

…and because it wouldn’t be fair to spill the beans on them all here, (I didn’t create them!) there’s an updated copy of THE blueprint on Stop & Go Eating waiting for you here…

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

Ten Ways To Increase Your Happiness :-)

1. *MEDITATE* :-)

Meditation helps you to slow down and look within. Take a few minutes each day and focus on your breath. Feel yourself breathing in and out. If thoughts come into your mind just release them with your breath as you breathe out. This is a great tool for learning to be present and a great way to discover the things that are bothering you so you can release them. As things come up, just let them go as you breathe out. As you think of things you need to do just let those go as well. Meditation is your “me” time… that little space during the day that is just for you.

2. *EXERCISE* :-)

You don’t have to be a marathon runner to benefit from exercise… I certainly am not. What I am saying here is for you to just not be a lump on the couch. Get up and go take your dog for a nice walk. Play with your children. Do some yoga. Even clean the house. It doesn’t have to be much, just get moving!

I will pair this one with eat healthy food… obviously!

3. *FORGIVE* :-)

Forgiveness is not a gift you give to others, it is a gift you give to yourself. Work on letting go of past hurts so that you can live a happier and more fulfilling life. Harboring animosity toward someone else does not help you get even with the other person, it only harms you. It wastes your time and energy that you could devote to something more beneficial in your life. I know it doesn’t seem right for the person who was hurt to have to do the additional work of forgiving and letting go, but would you rather be self righteous or would you rather be happy? The choice is up to you. Always remember to forgive yourself too.

4. *ACCEPT YOURSELF* :-)

Learn to accept and love yourself just as you are. Accept yourself with all of your good qualities and your faults. Your worth isn’t determined by how many times you have succeeded or failed or by how much money you have. Nor is it determined by who you know, what you do or what you look like. Your value to the world is determined by what is in your heart. Remember that you are perfect just the way you are. There is nothing else you need to do or be in order to be worthy of love.

5. *HELP OTHERS* :-)

If you want the shortcut to happiness, here it is! You can help anyone you wish, just pick something to do that gives you joy and comes from your heart. Whether you choose to help children in hospitals, homeless animals, the elderly, the poor, the sick, or wildlife doesn’t matter - whatever is closest to your heart is fine. Even if you aren’t ready yet to commit to a major cause, just give out kindness wherever you see it is needed. Giving out smiles and compliments is not only a great way to start, but a wonderful habit to get into. Kindness costs nothing and can bring you a great deal of joy. If you see someone who seems a bit down, just give them a big smile. That can make more of a difference in a person’s day than you can imagine. Remember that your actions and your words should always come from your heart.

6. *STOP WORRYING* :-)

Worry takes you away from the present moment and strips you of your energy. I can’t tell you how many years of my life I lost being caught up in worry. I remember being so absorbed in possibilities of future events that I could not even feel anything in the present moment. I lived for the weekends, but could not enjoy them once I got there and seemingly wonderful events were always tainted by that ever present feeling of dread. I couldn’t even relax on vacation. Did all that worrying achieve anything? Nope! Did any of the things I worried about ever come to pass? Only in my mind… I lived them over and over again and experienced that torture on a constant basis. Don’t do that to yourself. Worrying about something will NEVER do anything to solve any problem. Worrying just forces you to repeatedly experience horrible things that may or may not even occur. Let it go! Even if the event does come to pass, it is better to only experience it once than several times… and usually the imagined events are far worse than anything reality would ever throw your way. Make a conscious choice to make every moment of your life count. Live in the present, enjoy the people around you and give 100% of yourself to the people you love when you are with them.

7. *BE PRESENT* :-)

At times this can be easier said than done, but the general gist of it is this:
When you are watching a movie… you are watching a movie. When you are going for a walk, you are enjoying the experience. When you are playing with your children, you are there 100% with them. When you are in a conversation, you are there with the person you are speaking to and not off somewhere else. When you visit a new place, you really drink it all in and experience it.

Enjoy each experience fully and experience everything fully without thinking about what needs to get done or what the future holds.

8. *FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE* :-)

Stop paying attention to depressing things and focus instead on happiness. I stopped watching the news a long time ago and usually will just pop in a funny movie so I can control the content of what I am seeing. My internet homepage is customized with what I want to see and nothing more (this is where I get my weather updates for those of you who are wondering). It isn’t that I am avoiding reality, I just know that there is no use in seeing things that stress me out or make me sad. That doesn’t do anything to improve the situation and it just strips me of energy I could put to better use.

9. *LAUGH* :-)

Laughter is important - it relaxes you and triggers reactions in the body that are beneficial to your health and happiness! Do things every day to make yourself laugh. Watch funny movies. Watch your kids or pets play… or better yet, play with them. Read funny books. Talk to funny people. Do things to make others laugh and laugh along with them. Laugh at yourself. Laugh, laugh, laugh!

10. *LOVE* :-)

Love is the essence of who we are and why we are here. Love is the source of life… and the farther you are from it, the less energy and drive you will have to make positive things happen. Love more and you can become more. Love freely, deeply and fully. Love everyone around you including yourself. Remember that the more you give, the more you will receive in return. Live your life from love and happiness will follow you wherever you go.

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man" :-)

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 320-239-4537 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Saturday, August 14, 2010

"10 Ways to Improve Your Happiness by Changing Your Vocabulary"

**Seriously, What did Oprah Winfrey say about Happiness?**

“I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself.” ~Oprah Winfrey

You’ve heard about the power of positive thinking, right? Everyone’s raving about it. If you simply think positively, rainstorms will turn into rainbows, red lights will turn green, and your in-laws will suddenly turn into human beings. Right? Right?!

Well, it’s true… all except for the “simply” part. Because taming the wild stallion of your randomly rampaging thoughts is not really that simple and not really that easy.
I’ll tell you what you can control, though: your words. By making a few changes in your vocabulary, you can turn steaming piles of crap into 100% organic fertilizer. You can turn an inconvenient power outage into cuddle time with your sweetie. And you can turn obligations into opportunities. Words shape thoughts, and you’ll find that if you change your words for the better, your thoughts will change for the better too, and so will your life.

1. Should Have you heard the expression “Stop shoulding all over yourself”? Well, let’s clean that “should” off your pants and replace it with some organic fertilizer, because every obligation can be rephrased as a desire. Instead of “I should go to the store,” how about “I want to go to the store because I’m hungry and I want to buy some food”?

2. Ought “I ought to get this work done before I go to the party.” What do you want to do? Weigh your preferences. How good or bad would you feel about getting the work done first? How good or bad would you feel about leaving it undone? Figure out what you most want, and then do it. In any case, let go of the obligation. “I want to get this work done before I go to the party, because I’ll feel a lot better once it’s finished.”

3. Need to “I need to walk the dog.” How about instead, “I want our dog to be happy and healthy, and I want to have a nice, clean, poop-free house, so I’m going to walk the dog.”

4. Have to “I have to go to work.” Well, no. You don’t have to. It’s just that your actions have consequences. Even if you don’t enjoy the process of getting there, you might really want the end result. So maybe a more positive way to phrase it would be, “I want to make money, so I’m going to go to work.” Keeping your goal in mind can make the process of getting there better for you.

5. Must “I must go to bed now or else I’ll be tired and groggy all day tomorrow.” Okay, you got me, nobody actually talks like this. But you get the idea, right? “Must”, another obligation word, and again you can rephrase it positively as a desire. “I’ll go to bed now because I want to feel alert and awake tomorrow.” Doesn’t that take a weight off your shoulders and make you feel better about it?

6. Can’t Enough of obligation words, limiting words are even more dangerous. How many times do we say “I can’t” when it’s not really true? “I can’t write well.” Maybe you don’t write well right now, but you can if you put your mind to it. If you wanted to, you could practice and learn and gain new skills. So how about “I’m not that great at writing yet?” “Can’t” closes a door. You can stick your foot in that door and prop it open by choosing other words.

7. Impossible “It’s impossible for me to be a professional athlete; I’m just naturally clumsy.” You know what? I’ve seen a one-legged man compete in a Dance Dance Revolution tournament — and win. Nothing is impossible, it just takes time, practice, and dedication. Talent is completely irrelevant in the face of determination. How about “It’s possible for me to be a professional athlete if I want to put in the time and effort.”

8. Never “I could never sing as well as her.” Again, you probably could. Even if today, the sound of you singing in the shower sends birds spiraling disoriented into the ground, that’s just today. You can improve, you can get better, and you can keep getting better for as long as you want to. She probably took hours and hours of voice lessons, so you’re not being fair to yourself. “I could sing as well as her or better if I put my mind to it.”

9. Smack In addition to limiting words, violent words can bring unnecessary negativity into your life. “I’m gonna smack you if you don’t shut up right now!” If that’s really true, then that’s cool, you’re speaking authentically. But I found myself saying this when what I really meant was, “I’m feeling upset and frustrated because I can’t concentrate with a lot of noise around. Could you please be quiet? I’d really appreciate it.” When I rephrased my vocabulary this way, the people around me felt a lot more considered and respected.

10. Kill Now this one I hope you’re not saying with authenticity. “I’m going to kill you if you leave the toilet seat up one more time!” That’s one way to express anger and frustration, but how about expressing it directly instead? “I feel angry and hurt when you leave the toilet seat up, because it seems inconsiderate to me, like you don’t care about my comfort or our shared space.” The “kill” phrasing is likely to lead to an argument, but the “I feel” phrasing is likely to lead to a conversation that might make things better.

These are just 10 of the many words you can rephrase to improve your life. It’s even easier and more fun with a partner. Pick a word that you’d like to rephrase, and ask your partner to let you know whenever you use that word. It can be challenging, but it’s also incredibly rewarding!
What other words can you think of that would improve your life if you rephrased them?

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

"101 Good Ways to Build Links"

You Have To Love It - It All Free. :-)

1. Build a "101 list". These get Dugg all the time, and often become "authority documents". People can't resist linking to these (hint, hint).

2. Create 10 easy tips to help you [insert topic here] articles. Again, these are exceptionally easy to link to.

3. Create extensive resource lists for a specific topic (see Mr Ploppy for inspiration).

4. Create a list of the top 10 myths for a specific category.

5. Create a list of gurus/experts. If you impress the people listed well enough, or find a way to make your project look somewhat official, the gurus may end up linking to your site or saying thanks. (Sometimes flattery is the easiest way to strike up a good relationship with an "authority".)
*Developing Authority & Being Easy to Link At*

6. Make your content easy to understand so many people can understand and spread your message. (It's an accessibility thing.)

7. Put some effort in to minimize grammatical or spelling errors, especially if you need authoritative people like librarians to link to your site.

8. Have an easily accessible privacy policy and about section so your site seems more trustworthy. Including a picture of yourself may also help build your authority.
*PPC as a Link Building Tool*

9. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign. Relevant traffic will get your site more visitors and brand exposure. When people come to your site, regardless of the channel in which they found it, there is a possibility that they will link to you.
*News & Syndication*

10. Syndicate an article at EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare, etc. The great thing about good article sites is that their article pages actually rank highly and send highly qualified traffic.

11. Submit an article to industry news site. Have an SEO site? Write an article and submit to WebProNews. Have a site about BLANK? Submit to BLANKinformationalsite.com.

12. Syndicate a press release. Take the time to make it GOOD (compelling, newsworthy). Email it to some handpicked journalists and bloggers. Personalize the email message. For good measure, submit it to PRWeb, PRLeap, etc.

13. Track who picks up your articles or press releases. Offer them exclusive news or content.

14. Trade articles with other webmasters.

15. Email a few friends when you have important relevant news asking them for their feedback and/or if they would mind referencing it if they find your information useful.

16. Write about, and link to, companies with "in the news" pages. They link back to stories and blog posts which cover their developments. This is obviously easiest if you have a news section or blog. Do a Google search for [your industry + "in the news"].

17. Perform surveys and studies that make people feel important. If you can make other people feel important they will help do your marketing for you for free. Salary.com did a study on how underpaid mothers were, and they got many high quality links.
*Directories, Meme Trackers & Social Bookmarking*

18. This tip is an oldie but goodie: submit your site to DMOZ and other directories that allow free submissions.

19. Submit your site to paid directories. Another oldie. Just remember that quality matters.

20. Create your own topical directory about your field of interest. Obviously link to your own site, deeplinking to important content where possible. Of course, if you make it into a truly useful resource, it will attract links on its own.

21. Tag related sites on sites like Del.icio.us. If people find the sites you tag to be interesting, emotionally engaging, or timely they may follow the trail back to your site.

22. If you create something that is of great quality make sure you ask a few friends to tag it for you. If your site gets on the front page of Digg or on the Del.icio.us popular list, hundreds more bloggers will see your site, and potentially link to it.

23. Look at meme trackers to see what ideas are spreading. If you write about popular spreading ideas with plenty of original content (and link to some of the original resources), your site may get listed as a source on the meme tracker site.
*Local & Business Links*

24. Join the Better Business Bureau.

25. Get a link from your local chamber of commerce.

26. Submit your link to relevant city and state governmental resources. (Easier in some countries than in others.)

27. List your site at the local library's Web site.

28. See if your manufacturers or retailers or other business partners might be willing to link to your site.

29. Develop business relationships with non-competing businesses in the same field. Leverage these relationships online and off, by recommending each other via links and distributing each other's business cards.

30. Launch an affiliate program. Most of the links you pick up will not have SEO value, but the added exposure will almost always lead to additional "normal" links.
*Easy Free Links*

31. Depending on your category and offer, you will find Craigslist to be a cheap or free classified service.

32. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Yahoo! Answers and provide links to relevant resources.

33. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Google Groups and provide links to relevant resources.

34. If you run a fairly reputable company, create a page about it in the Wikipedia or in topic specific wikis. If it is hard to list your site directly, try to add links to other pages that link to your site.

35. It takes about 15 minutes to set up a topical Squidoo page, which you can use to look like an industry expert. Link to expert documents and popular useful tools in your fields, and also create a link back to your site.

36. Submit a story to Digg that links to an article on your site. You can also submit other content and have some of its link authority flow back to your profile page.

37. If you publish an RSS feed and your content is useful and regularly updated, some people will syndicate your RSS content (and some of those will provide linksâ€¦ unfortunately, some will not).

38. Most forums allow members to leave signature links or personal profile links. If you make quality contributions some people will follow these links and potentially read your site, link at your site, and/or buy your products.
*Have a Big Heart for Reviews*

39. Most brands are not well established online, so if your site has much authority, your review related content often ranks well.

40. Review relevant products on Amazon.com. We have seen this draw in direct customer enquiries and secondary links.

41. Create product lists on Amazon.com that review top products and also mention your background (LINK!).

42. Review related sites on Alexa to draw in related traffic streams.

43. Review products and services on shopping search engines like ePinions to help build your authority.

44. If you buy a product or service you really like and are good at leaving testimonials, many of those turn into links. Two testimonial writing tips — make them believable, and be specific where possible.
*Blogs & the Blogosphere*

45. Start a blog. Not just for the sake of having one. Post regularly and post great content. Good execution is what gets the links.

46. Link to other blogs from your blog. Outbound links are one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. Many bloggers also track who is linking to them or where their traffic comes from, so linking to them is an easy way to get noticed by some of them.

47. Comment on other blogs. Most of these comments will not provide much direct search engine value, but if your comments are useful, insightful, and relevant they can drive direct traffic. They also help make the other bloggers become aware of you, and they may start reading your blog and/or linking to it.

48. Technorati tag pages rank well in Yahoo! and MSN, and to a lesser extent in Google. Even if your blog is fairly new you can have your posts featured on the Technorati tag pages by tagging your posts with relevant tags.

49. If you create a blog make sure you list it in a few of the best blog directories.
*Design as a Linking Element*

50. Web 2.0-ify your site. People love to link to anything with AJAX. Even in the narrowest of niches, there is some kind of useful functionality you can build with AJAX.

51. Validate and 508 your site. This (indirect) method makes your site more trustworthy and linkable, especially from governmental sites or design-oriented communities. There are even a few authoritative directories of standards-compliant sites.

52. Order a beautiful CSS redesign. A nice design can get links from sites like CSS Vault.
*Hire Help)

53. Hire a publicist. Good old fashioned 'PR' (not PageRank) can still work wonders. Andy Hagans now offers a link baiting publicity service.

54. Hire a consultant. Yes, you can outsource link building. Just make sure to go with someone good. We recommend WeBuildPages, Debra Mastaler and, ahem, Andy Hagans.
*Link Trading*

55. Swap some links. What?! Did we really just recommend reciprocal link building? Yes, on a small scale, and with relevant partners that will send you traffic. Stay away from the link trading hubs and networks.

56. In case you didn't get the memo — when swapping links, try to get links from within the content of relevant content pages. Do not try to get links from pages that list hundreds of off topic link partners. Only seek link exchanges that you would consider pursuing even if search engines did not exist. Instead of thinking just about your topic when exchanging links, think about demographic audience sets.
*Buying Sites, Renting Links & Advertisements*

57. Rent some high quality links from a broker. Text Link Ads is the most reputable firm in this niche.

58. Rent some high quality links directly from Web sites. Sometimes the most powerful rented links come direct from sites not actively renting links.

59. Become a sponsor. All sorts of charities, contests, and conferences link to their sponsors. This can be a great way to gain visibility, links, and a warm feeling in your heart.

60. Sell items on eBay and offer to donate the profits to a charity. Many charities will link both to the eBay auction and to your site.

61. Many search algorithms seem biased toward older established sites. It may be faster to buy an old site with a strong link profile, and link it to your own site, than to try to start building authority links from scratch.
*Use the Courts (Proceed with Caution*

62. Sue Google.

63. Get sued by a company people hate. When Aaron was sued by Traffic Power, he got hundreds or thousands of links, including links from sites like Wired and The Wall Street Journal.
*Freebies & Giveaways*

64. Hold a contest. Contests make great link bait. A few-hundred-dollar prize can result in thousands of dollars worth of editorial quality links. Enough said.

65. Build a tool collection. Original and useful tools (and collections of tools) get a lot of link love. What do you think ranking for mortgage calculator is worth?

66. Create and release open source site design templates for content management systems like Wordpress. Don't forget the "Designed by example.com" bit in the footer!

67. Offer free samples in exchange for feedback.

68. Release a Firefox extension. Make sure you have a download and/or support page on your site which people can link to.
*Conferences & Social Interaction*

69. It is easy to take pictures of important events and tell narratives about why they are important. Pictures of (drunk?) "celebrities" in your industry make great link bait.

70. Leverage new real world relationships into linking relationships. If you go to SEO related conferences, people like Tim Mayer, Matt Cutts, and Danny Sullivan are readily accessible. Similarly, in other industries, people who would normally seem inaccessible are exceptionally accessible at trade conferences. It is much easier to seem "real" in person. Once you create social relationships in person, it is easy to extend that onto the web.

71. Engaging, useful, and interesting interviews are an easy way to create original content. And they spread like wildfire.
30 Bad Ways to Build Links

Here are a few link buiding methods that may destroy your brand or get your site banned/penalized/filtered from major search engines, or both.
*Directories*

72. Submit your site to 200 cheesy paid directories (averaging $15 a pop) that send zero traffic and sell offtopic run-of-site links.
*Forum Spam*

73. List 100 Web sites in your signature file.

74. Exclusively post only when you can add links to your sites in the post area.

75. Post nothing but "me too" posts to build your post count. Use in combination with a link-rich signature file.

76. Ask questions about who provides the best [WIDGET], where [WIDGET] is an item that you sell. From the same IP address create another forum account and answer your own question raving about how great your own site is.

77. As a new member to various forums, ask the same question at 20 different forums on the same day.

78. Post on forum threads that are years outdated exclusively to link to your semi-related website.

79. Sign up for profiles on forums you never intend on commenting on.
*Blog Spam*

80. Instead of signing blog comments with your real name, sign them with spammy keywords.

81. Start marketing your own site hard on your first blog comment. Add no value to the comment section. Mention nothing other than you recently posted on the same subject at _____ and everyone should read it. Carpet bomb dozens of blogs with this message.

82. Say nothing unique or relevant to the post at hand. Make them assume an automated bot hit their comments.

83. Better yet, use automated bots to hit their comments. List at least 30 links in each post. Try to see if you can hit any servers hard enough to make them crash.

84. Send pings to everyone talking about a subject. In your aggregation post, state nothing of interest. Only state that other people are talking about the topic.

85. Don't even link to any of the sites you are pinging. Send them pings from posts that do not even reference them.
*Garbage Link Exchanges*

86. Send out link exchange requests mentioning PageRank.

87. Send link exchange emails which look like an automated bot sent them (little or no customization, no personal names, etc.).

88. Send link exchange requests to Matt Cutts, Tim Mayer, Tim Converse, Google, and Yahoo!.

89. Get links from nearly-hidden sections of websites listing hundreds or thousands of off topic sites.
*Spam People in Person*

90. Go to webmaster conferences and rave about how rich you are, and how your affiliates make millions doing nothing.

91. Instead of asking people what their name is, ask what their URL is. As soon as you get their URL ask if they have linked to your site yet and if not, why not.
*Be Persistent*

92. Send a webmaster an alert to every post you make on your website.

93. Send a webmaster an email every single day asking for them to link to your website.

94. Send references to your site to the same webmaster from dozens of different email accounts (you sly dog).

95. If the above do not work to get you a free link, offer them $1 for their time. Increase your offer by a dollar each day until they give in.
*Getting Links by Being a Jerk*

96. Emulate the RIAA. When in doubt, file a lawsuit against a 12-year-old girl. (Failing that, obtain bad press by any means necessary.)

97. Steal content published by well known names. Strip out any attribution. Aggregate many popular channels and just wait for them to start talking about you.

98. Send thousands of fake referrals at every top ranking Web site, guaranteeing larger boobs, a 14-inch penis (is that length or girth?), or millions of dollars in free, unclaimed money.

99. Wear your URL on your t-shirt. Walk or drive your car while talking on a cell phone or reading a book. When you run into other people say "excuse you, jerk".

100. Spill coffee on people or find creative ways to insult people to coax them into linking at your site.

101. Sue other webmasters for deep linking to your site. Well, this is more "hilariously dumb" than it is a "bad linking practice".

** Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It" **

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

Friday, August 13, 2010

"10 Tips to Brand Yourself & Your Business Online"

It has often been said we are now in the “Attention Age” and it seems you have less time than ever before to make an impression on a prospective customer.

1. Have a Memorable Name.
If you’re not in business under your own name, select a catchy memorable name. The name doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything it just needs to be memorable: “Google”, “Twitter”, “Bing”, anyone?

2. Have a Memorable Logo.
Get a professional graphic designer to design you a logo that everyone will be able to recognise. Think of any good brand and the chances are that you can visualise their logo – McDonalds, Coca Cola, Levis etc.

3. Have a Memorable Catchphrase.
‘Just do it’ is the catchphrase of Nike. You already knew that didn’t you? Hence why a memorable catchphrase will help your business remain in the back of peoples minds.

4. Use Your Name, Branding and Imagery Across All Social Platforms.
If you’re marketing yourself properly, then you’re going to have profiles for your business on all of the top social websites to help you make money online.

You should have profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Linked In, Youtube and others to give potential customers the best chance of finding you.

Keep your profiles consistent with your company blog or website and use the same colours and branding across them all – consistency is the key.

5. And e-mail Signatures, Forum Signatures and Forum / Profile Avatars
Branding doesn’t begin and end with your social media profiles. Use the same images, colours and messages in all of your forum and blog comment avatars and any e-mail messages you send out.

6. Interview Industry Experts
Interview experts in your industry for instant credibility by association and increased brand awareness.

If people see experts are willing to work with your business that puts you, in a strange way, on a similar level to those experts and potential customers will stand up and take notice.

7. Write Press Releases About Your Achievements
Write press releases about the things that your business are doing. These press releases will be picked up by online news channels and help to raise your brand awareness.

Press releases also provide your blog with high quality, authority backlinks which will in turn improve your overall position within the search engines.

8. Write Free Reports & Ebooks
Write free reports and ebooks using your business branding. As long as you provide genuine value in the reports that quality will be associated with your business.

Another tip to get your free report to a wider audience is to use JV Giveaways. There are several new events each month you can participate in and of course, use the same personal image as in your other online profiles.

Remember, you need to be everywhere your potential customers are!

9. Guest Blog on Popular Blogs
If there are popular blogs in your niche that have lots of traffic then you should consider contacting the website owner to see if there are any guest blogging opportunities.

This will give you an opportunity to present yourself and your business to a whole new audience who may not yet have heard of you and is one way a new blog can attract a lot of visitors in a short space of time.

Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It"
The Best'

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

"Free Ways To Drive Traffic to Your Web Site"

" It All Free."

You've developed a new Web site. Congratulations! How exciting! Now all you have to do is sit back and watch the business roll in, right? Not really.

Web sites, unlike other marketing tools, have to be publicized. When you write a radio commercial, you pay a radio station to run the ad. When you design a brochure, you give it away. But when you publish a Web site, you must promote it to drive in business.

An excellent way to lead people to your site is to use a specialist. But, even if you hire a search engine positioning specialist to help place you among the Top 10 on Yahoo, there are still many other ways you can promote your site... and they're effective and free!

*Links
A study by the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) gives us proof. On one site they observed, 84 percent of visitors came in via links from other sites. Be sure you trade links with as many people as you can. You might consider a "Helpful Links" page on your site devoted to just his purpose. One word of caution—be sure the links are appropriate. Arrange to exchange links with companies that are reaching the same target audience. For example, if you are a lawn care company you might exchange links with a landscaper. Another effective idea to incorporate links into your site is a "Testimonials" page.

We all love to receive "praise letters" on our email. Ask permission to use these as testimonials on your Web site. We should be just as liberal with our praises. When you appreciate a product or service, be sure to write a note of thanks. Mention in the letter that the person (or company) is free to use your kind words as a testimonial if they will simply include your name and Web address.

*Signatures
Another site observed by the GIT indicated 35 percent of visitors were brought to the site via signature files on email messages they received. Often times this feature is overlooked due to lack of knowledge.

A signature file is a feature most email programs (even free ones) offer. You may type in a message and that statement will be added at the bottom of every email you send. This saves you the time of having to type in the message repeatedly. Usually this feature is found under the heading of "Options" in the email program. One note: be sure to include the "http://" before the Web address so a link will be created for people who receive plain text emails as well as html.

*Write Ups
In one instance, 62 percent of visitors came to a site through articles in newspapers and magazines. When sending out your press releases be sure to include your Web address along with other contact information. The same applies for interviews on the radio or public addresses/seminars you may offer.

*Other Ways
The most simple of all ways is to tell people. Mention it in conversation. Bring it up when others discuss Web sites they have visited.

Include your Web address on all your business cards. Make it bold. If your business derives most of its revenue from sales made on the web site, be sure the Web address is on the front of the card.

When printing letterhead, include your Web address. Most Web addresses don't take up much space and can be easily incorporated along with the company's physical address and phone number.

Don't forget to mention your Web site in all your advertising efforts. Whether it be a promotional video, television commercial or brochure, make it a point to position your Web address where it is visible. For radio commercials, include it in the copy. A great way to work it in is when providing other ordering information. For example: "...visit us at 1234 Oak Street or log onto www.ktamarketing.com."

Be creative! Always remember to include your Web site information in everything you do and your efforts will pay off in additional hits!

FINALLY! The first copywriting course that takes you step-by-step through the process of writing emotion stirring, profit generating copy and gives you the LIVE feedback you need to succeed! Get it today—with three FREE bonuses! http://www.copywritingcourse.com.

Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It"

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

AdSense Tips: Get the Highest Paying AdSense Keywords for Free.

There is a great tool available that allows you to check out the highest cost-per-click (HCPC) keywords for Google AdSense, allowing you to write content with the highest-paying keywords in mind. It is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool and it allows anybody to view the highest CPC keywords, for free, without having to log in or sign up. It was created to help people come up with new ideas for their AdWords campaigns, but you can use it to see which AdSense keywords will pay you the most so you can target your site's content for high CPC and generate higher advertising revenue. This tutorial will show you how to find these keywords with the AdSense preview tool and how to use that information to increase your cost per click.

{google_articles}

The AdSense preview tool is ABSOLUTELY FREE and is hosted by Google, check it out here. I will show two important things in this tutorial. First we will run a preliminary check against your website's current content to see the highest paying keywords related to your current content. After that we will explore individual keywords to find the very best keyword combinations and phrases so you can write new content (and rewrite old content if you wish) to display AdSense ads that pay much more than your current ads.
Finding the Highest Paying Keywords for Your Current Website Articles

First you need to figure out what keywords Google has targeted for your current website. Then you can use this information to tweak your current content to display higher-paying keyword ads.

1. Browse to Google's Keyword Tool
2. Select Website Content
3. Enter your website URL (you can also enter a specific web page)
4. Click Get keyword ideas
5. Select Show All from the dropdown box
6. Make sure Group keywords by common terms is checked
7. Under Calculate Estimates using Max CPC: select $USD (or whatever currency you use)
8. Enter 100 in the empty box (or the equivelent of $100USD in your currency)
9. Click Recalculate
10. Now the columns below will display the estimated cost per click (CPC) for each keyword!
11. Click the column title Estimated Avg. CPC to sort by price. Click it one more time to sort from highest to lowest.
12. You can now browse down the page to get an idea for which keyword phrases pay the most amount of money
13. Now you can go back to your current articles and rewrite bits of the content, organizing phrases and keywords so they match up with the highest paying AdSense keywords. This will make a big difference, helping AdSense to place similar ads that pay much more instead of low cost per click ads.
14. If you really want to get serious, the ideal solution would be to enter the URL of each article on your website and repeat this process, then rewrite your content to match the highest paying adsense keywords for each page.

{google_articles}
Finding New Keywords That Pay More Than Your Current Keywords

Now that you have a good idea of what your website is currently capable of, it is time to explore new keywords. You'll be able to find keywords and keyword combinations that you aren't currently using to raise your CPC even higher.

1. Browse to Google's Keyword Tool
2. Select Descriptive words or phrases
3. Enter a keyword or keyword phrase into the textbox
4. Make sure the Use synonyms checkbox is checked
5. Type the CAPTCHA word into the bottom textbox and click Get keyword ideas
6. Select Show All from the dropdown box
7. Under Calculate Estimates using Max CPC: select $USD (or whatever currency you use)
8. Enter 100 in the empty box (or the equivelent of $100USD in your currency)
9. Click Recalculate to display the estimated CPC for each keyword
10. Click the column title Estimated Avg. CPC to sort by price. Click it one more time to sort from highest to lowest.
11. {cbauthor}You can now see several keyword phrases, ordered by highest CPC. You can go back and adjust your existing articles to contain some of these higher paying keyword phrases, and use these phrases for content you write in the future.
12. For all future content you write, do a little research with this tool to find the best keywords available before you write your articles. You can make subtle tweaks to your content keywords to drastically increase your CPC and overal AdSense revenue. You can also use this tool to find profitable topics, and base your articles on the higher paying keywords.

Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It"

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537

"Top 20 SEO Tips & Guidelines :: Free Search Engine Optimization"

1. If you don?t want too much competition from other SEO?s, choose your keywords precisely.
For example, Instead of keyowrd Loan choose keywords like Bank Loan, Equity Loan, Student Loan, Home Loan etc.
Order of keyword also matter for search engines. Search engine treats ?Loan Equity? and ?Equity Loan? as different keywords.

2. Best seo practice is to get at least one of your primary keywords in domain or sub domain name of your website.
You can use hyphens (-) to separate multiple keywords.
For example: seo-service, seo-guidelines, free-seo each cover two keyords.

3. Get your second or third keywords in your directory name and filename.
For example http://www.hiddentricks.com/seo/free-tips.html is best for keyword ?free seo tips? , ?seo hidden tricks? or "free seo tricks"

4. Keep your webpage free from any syntax error, declare document type at the beginning and validate your HTML and CSS because search engine don?t like pages with too many errors.

5. Give a short Title in of your page in 3-9 words (60-80 characters) maximum in length containing your primary keyword.
Remember it will be displayed in search results so choose wisely.

6. Try to include your most important keyword phrases in heading tags on your page if you can but keep in mind it should not be exactly same as title of your page.
You can use (H1 H2 H3) tag for specifying anything important.
To reduce size of heading use CSS.

7. Specify Meta keywords in heading of document. Limit it to 15 to 20 words. Although not all the search engines give importance but there is no harm doing it.
Search engine like Yahoo still give it importance.

8. Write Your Meta Description tag attractive containing keywords because it will appear on the search engine result pages.

9. Use text for navigation menu instead of using images or Java scripts.

10. Try to include your most important keyword in hyper linked text and text and text that immediately precedes or follows the hyperlink.
Do not use same keyword always use synonyms at few places.
Just like instead of seo, I have use search engine optimization at many places on this page.

11. If you are using images then use ?alt? attribute to describe your image with proper keyword.

12. One of the best webmaster guideline is to submit sitemap of your website to make sure all pages of your website are indexed by search engine crawlers.

13. Keep size of your webpages less than 50KB so it is downloaded fast and visitors don?t have to wait for long.
For good SEO site page size ideal should be 15KB.

14. Try to avoid your content in Flash, frame, images, java script because crawler find it very difficult and it is against seo tips and guidelines.

15. Don?t use dynamic url because it don?t contain keywords so its not search engine friendly.
If you are using any script which shows dynamic pages then make sure at least it should include one keyword.

16. Don?t try to spam and never use methods like cloaking, keyword spamming or doorway pages.
Many seo advices to have multiple domain name and link each other but according to our SEO tips and guidelines search engine can penalize you for this.
Instead of that try to add more quality content to your existing website.

17. Submit your website only once to google, Yahoo, AltaVista and other search engines and open directory.
Don?t use any script or website for automatic submission.

18. If your website contents changes very often then provide visitor with Newsletter and RSS feed.

19. Write articles on website related to yours having higher page ranking and leave your websites link.

20. Get link from other sites related to yours, search engine consider it as vote in your favour.

Please Remember This My Friends: Feel it, Believe it, Live it. The Magic Words, "Just Do It"

The Best

"Starbuck Man"

Randy Flaherty
Starbuckman@gmail.com

Contact: powerman297@hotmail.com
Contact: 320-239-4537