Most relevant news, techniques and tools for authors looking to promote their books inexpensively off and online. We refer to and utilize many of the Guerrilla Marketing techniques and have created some of our own geared specifically to book promotion and marketing. Our website is the ground where we put into practice our marketing efforts. Membership is FREE.

Monday, June 30, 2008

3 Blog Squad Teleclasses this week

3 Blog Squad Teleclasses this week
Monday, June 23, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (10:00 a.m. Pacific) How to Get the Best Out of Your Blog: A 4-Point System to Get Found, Get Known and Get Clients Part 1 of a 4-Part Teleseminar series hosted by Adam...

Trap #4: The Trap of One Big Success
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, reveals the #4 Internet Marketing trap: you only need one really great product to make a lot of money. Success on the Internet...

C-level Execs Get News and Business Information Online
They prefer to access the Web rather than read the newspaper

The Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for C-Level executives around the world, at 67%. This number has increased 37% since 2004. At the same time, C-Level executives, citing newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal as their main source of business information, has decreased 36% since 2004, reports The Center for Media Research.

The study was done by Forbes and Gartner and finds

  • Senior Execs are using the web to research competiors and industry trends daily
  • They're more likely to access the web than read a newspaper before going to work
  • The majority of their media consumption in on the web
  • They think that the web contains the most informative advertsiing

Well that dispels any idea that C-suite execs are still in the last century, technologically.  Yes there may still be those few dinosaurs whose secretaries print out their emails.. But by and large they're Net savvy and more of them are turning to the web for information each year.

If you want your information seen by the C-suite, you need a smart online PR strategy. And if you've despaired of ever getting ink in the Wall St Jouranl, tihs study shoud bring a broad smile to your face. You can reach that audience directly with your news - if you place it correctly into online news sites and news search engines.



Don’t make this Adsense mistake
One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS. Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored [...]

One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS.

Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements.” This includes any text directly above our ads that could be confused with, or attempt to be associated with Google ads.

TOS clearly states that publishers may not use labels other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements”. But as you may have seen already, people become creative when it comes to labeling their ad units. I’ve seen people putting, “Articles, Navigation, Books, and Latest News” as the title of the ad unit.

Usually Google sends out warning letters first if they think you are using a wrong label. Just be careful of what you are doing with it.



Making Social Media Content Work For You
Social media does have new rules, but some of the old rules apply too

Executing Social Media was a good conference.  Everyone participated in the sessions, so we got the benefit of some very smart people sharing ideas about what works and what doesn't.

There were two excellent keynotes:

George Wright from Blendtech spoke about how the Will It Blend campaign came about and why it has been so successful. The videos have had over 40 million views and sales are up 5X.

Peter Shankman woke everyone on day two with his energetic keynote about where all this social media sruff might be going.

Being wired and on the grid is a fact of life.  We have no privacy. Someone always has a camera or a laptop switched on and everything you do or say could end up online. What we do have is the ability to control what gets seen or found online.

His prediction is that we are moving towards a world where we have one tool that connects us and it's more about how we live our lives than the tools we use.

How can this be used to advantage by companies? Create PR stunts people will talk about and share.  Since everyone is now a citizen journalist with a camera and the means to publish, give them great content that is worth publishing. 

He did this for Harrah's. 

As a way to promote their new Water Tower, the Harrah's Resort Atlantic City gave away $1 million worth of free hotel rooms in four major East Coast cities, starting in New York.

They had a bevy of beautiful models painted in the Harrah's logo on Wall Street giving away room keys.  And it caused a storm of tweets and images, as well as mainstream media coverage.

LInda Zimmer made a great point in her wrapup - use best principles rather than best practices.  What worked for one company may not be the right stunt or content for yours.  Use the idea, but keep your target audience and end goal in mind..

Example:  If HerRoom.com did a similar stunt to promote the Undie Awards, I am sure they'd get just as much attention and coverage - but a ton of traffic from young Wall Street hot shots would not sell any bras. 

The old rule of the right message to the right audience still applies.  It's just a new channel..

 



YPN vs Adsense
David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot. Very interesting read, please check it out. Making Money with YPN

David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot.

Very interesting read, please check it out.

Making Money with YPN



Custom Content Is Your Best Bet
Last year 10% of audiences caught their favorite shows online.

Brands are catching on to the idea that they can create custom content and attract the right audience.  Where is this custom content being viewed?  Online. By the end of the year, an estimated 40% of programming will be viewed through the Web, says James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research.  Internet advertising in the United States will grow eight times faster than the overall market, surpassing newspapers, cable TV, and broadcast TV by 2012, IDC predicted today. The Yankee Group expects the market to reach $50.3 billion by 2011, double the amount of 2007.

Marketers have found a new way to try to keep viewers from tuning out their ads: offer them online programming created by the marketers themselves, often with help from their advertising agencies, says The New York Times.

One way is to sponsor content that appeals to your audience - National Geographic's Dog Whisperer is virtually owned online by Petco, writes Brandweek.

Some brands are investing in their own channels and shows. What is called Advertorial in print has become advertainment online.

Chivas This is the LIfe has a channel on MSN.

BlendTec has made entertainment out of their product testing with the Will It Blend videos. Now they're doing co-branded content    

Just a year ago MySpace announced branded channels with custom content from National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, The Daily Reel, Expert Village, Flow, IGN Entertainment, Octane TV, Kush TV, Ripe TV, VBS TV, and Young Hollywood.

Sites like Kyte and FlexTubeTV allow you to produce your own branded content channel online.  This Is 50, is the online destination site for articet 50 cent.  It's part hip-hop/pop culture blog, part fan community, and part original content destination.

Heavy.com  aims at men ages 18-34, They offer an online dating reality series using partially user-generated content and a show that won a Webby Award for the sports category in Online Film & Video.

I's a no-brainer for travel and tourism sites. eMarketer projects Online travel sales in the U.S. sales will reach nearly $146 billion in 2010, up from nearly $127 billion in 2009 and $110 billion in 2008. Travel bookings surpassed offline bookings in volume for the fitrst time in 2007, according to PhoCusWright.  Any travel or tourism destination that is not using online video is missing a huge opportunity. Video is a major influencer in travel sales.

Have you thought about how you could use online video to build your brand, engage loyal customers and offer content that they want to watch and come back for?

.



Gartner Names Top 10 Technologies That Will Change The World
What is sauce for the goose... the advice to CIOs should be taken to heart by PR Managers

Dr. Jim Amderson posted in The Busines of IT blog about the Gartner Top 10 Technologies that they think will change the world in the next four years.

  1. Multicore and hybrid processors
  2. Virtualization and fabric computing
  3. Social networks and social software
  4. Cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms
  5. Web mashups
  6. User Interface
  7. Ubiquitous computing
  8. Contextual computing
  9. Augmented reality
  10. Semantics

Dr. Anderson says that 1 - 4 spell a sea change in IT departments.  "Uh, oh - can you hear your job going away?" he asks.

"What does this all mean, and more importantly what should a successful IT staffer (or CIO) do today? The key to your future success is to understand how IT is going to change and what you need to do to change with it."

#3 on the list is having a profound effect on PR and marketing departments. and I'd say that same advice applies:

The key to your future success is to understand how PR is going to change and what you need to do to change with it.

Social Media has given the PR industry much more insight into the fundamental aspects of relationship-building, says Todd Defren

Is this how PR should always have been?  Yes, indeed.  Social software and social networks are empowering the consumer and their voice is being heard - loud and clear.

Business Week updated their 2006 article on blogs and said when they wrote that story they missed an even bigger one:  social networks and social software.

"Social connectors are changing the dynamics of companies around the world. Millions of us are now hanging out on the Internet with customers, befriending rivals, clicking through pictures of our boss at a barbecue, or seeing what she read at the beach. It's as if the walls around our companies are vanishing and old org charts are lying on their sides."

And even if the social media bubble bursts—and Business Week predicts it will—they also predict that the power of social media to transform our businesses and society will only continue to grow.

Are you ready?



Ask, Ask, Ask: Using Surveys for Content Marketing
We recently asked a thousand readers what their biggest problems are when it comes to Internet Marketing, using SurveyMonkey.com. This a great way to get content ideas, stay in touch with what readers want, and develop programs and info products...

BlogPotomac: WaPo Dan Beyers talks about the future of the media
Media needs a new model of audience engagement

Dan Breyers, local business editor at the Washington Post, talks about how social media is impacting the media and how the paper is adapting.

He starts by reading a prediction that within 10 years there will be no more print media. And goes on to give his personal strategy as business editor.

 1.  Provide excellent content.

2.   Provide new ways for companies to engage with the audience. Offering access to the data and more indepth content about the companies

3.  Make it easy for people to use and share the information

This is definitely not your grandmother's newspaper. 

Take note, PR folk.  If this is where reporters and newspapers are heading, your media relations strategy will have to look very different too.

Hat tip to Geoff Livingstone for the video



WordPress 2.1 is ready
WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it. Download WordPress 2.1.

WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it.

Download WordPress 2.1.



Social Writing: Don't ignore networking sites
There's a lot of buzz online right now about whether or not one should use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Are these sites important for content marketing? You'll have to decide for yourself and for your business....

4 Keys for Content Marketing that Gets Results
How do you write good content for your web pages (blog, newsletters, articles, press releases, etc.) that also brings in clients and customers and makes sales? Let's face it, talking about how great your product and services are isn't going...

Social Networking Online: How to find out what you need to know
Are you puzzled by buzzwords like "web 2.0" and "social media?" If you're like me, you probably cringed when you started hearing the buzz about MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. At first you could ignore it because it was just for...

Download Firefox 3
Did you know that Firefox 3 is out? It’s a major release. I can already tell the difference in performance. It’s lightning fast. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the new version, but I can already tell that it looks sleek. Firefox 3 is supposed to be more secure and [...]

Did you know that Firefox 3 is out? It’s a major release. I can already tell the difference in performance. It’s lightning fast. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the new version, but I can already tell that it looks sleek.

Firefox 3 is supposed to be more secure and easier to use. You can test some of their improved security features on the Firefox 3 Release Notes webpage.

Download Firefox 3 now. You will love it.



Trap #3: The Trap of the Internet Guru
5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business In this video, I talk about how easy it is to fall for smooth marketing hype that promise you millions. Internet "gurus" don't always have the right answer for you...

Trap #5: The Trap of Manifesting by Meditation and Visualization
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, reveals the #5 Internet Marketing trap: it takes more than the Law of Attraction to be successful online. You have to get into...

Repeat the Benefits: Create a Placebo Effect
"Should I reinforce the benefits of my product on the thank you page?" One of our clients asked this question while we were reviewing his autoresponders and online content. Of course. While this may seem obvious and common sense, many...

WordPress 2.5.1
Upgrade your WordPress immediately.  WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today.  It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes.  Here are some highlights of improvements : Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages. Better performance for those who have many categories Media Uploader fixes An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7 Widget Administration fixes Various [...]

Upgrade your WordPress immediately.  WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today.  It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes. 

Here are some highlights of improvements :

  • Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages.
  • Better performance for those who have many categories
  • Media Uploader fixes
  • An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7
  • Widget Administration fixes
  • Various usability improvements
  • Layout fixes for IE

One of the most annoying bugs in WP 2.5 was the media uploader bug.  It just wouldn’t work for me.  Uploading works fine, but once it is uploaded I can’t retreive it using the gallery menu.  WordPress 2.5.1 fixed some of the media uploader problems, but from my testing, it still needs improvements.  I can now upload and view the file fine, but I still can’t insert images to my posts.  I hope they get fix it quickly. 

If you want to learn more about WordPress 2.5.1 go to WordPress Blog



Relevant Content: Search Engine Bread Crumbs
On our 5 Traps of Internet Marketing teleclass yesterday, almost 1000 people registered and we got some interesting questions. Here's one: "What is the most important thing to do to get people to find your site when you cannot afford...

Free Stock Photos from Electronic Perceptions
Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them. One thing I would like to see is some free [...]

Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them.

One thing I would like to see is some free high-resolution stock photos. I know she can do whatever she wants to do with her photos, but I feel that she can attract more traffic to her site if she gives away high-resolution versions for some of her photo sets. That would be really awesome.

I highly suggest that you bookmark her blog. New stock photos are posted daily basis. Thanks Kathy!

Samples
Red and Green Tableware

Visit : Electronic Perceptions for Free Stock Photos



FilePub - free file hosting service
FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip. It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on [...]

FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip.

It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on your blog. You can save bandwidth and the web space if you host these big files outside of your web hosting server. FilePub is perfect for that. Read their terms of service before you upload your files.

How to upload a file
Click “Browse” and choose a file. Once the file is selected, just click “Click to Upload” That’s it!

Once the file is uploaded, you will be redirected to a folder. From there, you can either view the full version of the image or download it.

By the way the screen shots used in this post are hosted at FilePub. Here is another example of a uploaded file (2.16MB).

Visit: FilePub.com


Sunday, June 29, 2008

Free Bonus Gifts

Free Bonus Gifts

24 Unforgettable Advertisements
Written by toxel Why should ads be boring? Check out this collection of unforgettable advertisements from around the world. Nissan Cube Advertisement Break Glass in Case of Adventure. [link] Nike Cars Advertisement Cars decorated as Nike kicks in Mexico. The front car carrying the ball. [link] BMW Advertisement “From up here, I can see BMW of Bridgeport” [link] Nescafe Advertisement This picture of a [...]

Written by toxel

24 Unforgettable Advertisements

Why should ads be boring? Check out this collection of unforgettable advertisements from around the world.

Nissan Cube Advertisement

Break Glass in Case of Adventure. [link]

Nissan Cube Advertisement

Nike Cars Advertisement

Cars decorated as Nike kicks in Mexico. The front car carrying the ball. [link]

Nike Cars Advertisement

BMW Advertisement

“From up here, I can see BMW of Bridgeport” [link]

BMW Advertisement

Nescafe Advertisement

This picture of a Nescafe branded building is from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and must be among the largest inflatables in the world. [link]

Nescafe Advertisement

Nike Advertisement

Nike Advertisement

Nestle Advertisement

Creative Nestle billboard advertisement. [link]

Nestle Advertisement

Mini Advertisement

Mini Advertisement

Hopi Hari Advertisement

Hopi Hari Advertisement

Fitness Company Advertisement

Shopping bags given away to customers when purchasing fitness accessories or nutritional supplements at the Fitness Company fitness centers. [link]

Fitness Company Advertisement

Skin Cancer Towel Advertisement

“Please take care this summer” [link]

Skin Cancer Towel Advertisement

K-Swiss Advertisement

KSwiss Advertisement

McDonald’s Bus Stop Advertisement

Just what you want while waiting for the bus: that mouth watering, tantalizing reminder of how much you’d love to stuff your face with a 1,000 calorie burger only to be reminded later by your stomach it wasn’t the best decision you could have made. [link]

McDonalds Bus Stop Advertisement

Woodland Shoes Advertisement

Powerful idea for a billboard. [link]

Woodland Shoes Advertisement

Outdoor Stunt by Goodyear

Lovely concept, but I think there’s something lost in translation in this outdoor campaign for Goodyear. The sign says:

(front) “Your vehicle has been towed. Call 0800 081-8181.”
(back) “For sticking on the roads.” [link]

Outdoor Stunt by Goodyear

FedEx Kinko’s Advertisement

When coming up with an ad campaign for FedEx Kinko’s, the innovative minds at advertising agency BBDO were inspired by the streets of New York. The agency installed oversized bottles of correction fluid, highlighters, and, in one case, an office lamp, on the city’s busy thoroughfares for a couple of days earlier this year. [link]

FedEx Kinkos Advertisement

Peta Advertisement

The action is named ‘None of us would like to end up like this.. neither would other-than-human animals’ and it was done with four big foam trays, each of them containing a naked activist inside, and covered with a see-through plastic with a ‘Human meat’ sticker on it. The idea was to imitate the ‘meat’ trays we can find at the supermarkets and to show that we are also animals, just as other-than-human animals, we neither would like to end up there. [link]

Peta Advertisement

Ravensburger Puzzles Advertisement

Ravensburger Puzzles Advertisement

BIC Razor Advertisement

Bic developed this creative outdoor advertisement for their razors. The billboard is blank except for a small logo, but without it the advertisement might be missed and it acts as a good backdrop for the giant razor and cut grass. The only draw back is the constant trimming of the lawn. [link]

BIC Razor Advertisement

Mercedes Advertisement

Mercedes Advertisement

IKEA Advertisement

Ikea on Wheels advertisement. [link]

IKEA Advertisement

Canon Advertisement

Creative Canon outdoor advertisement. [link]

Canon Advertisement

Kill Bill Advertisement

Kill Bill Advertisement

LEGO Advertisement

Lego’s ad agency in Santiago (Chile) used cranes to hang giant Lego blocks. [link]

LEGO Advertisement

Discovery Channel Advertisement

Discovery Channel Advertisement

ShareThis




iPodder.org : What is podcasting?

Add My Blog To Your My Yahoo! Page

American Red Cross Disaster Relief via Amazon

Google Chairman Optimistic about Entrepreneurial Trends

Internet Marketing Blog Directory

BlogRolled - Make Money with Your Blogroll
I saw this coming.  Now you can make money with your blogrolls with BlogRolled.  It works pretty much like Text Link Ads except the fact that it doesn’t require a script installation to display the links.  Your visitors and the search engines will have hard time identifying the paid links because of the way BlogRolled works. This is [...]

I saw this coming.  Now you can make money with your blogrolls with BlogRolled.  It works pretty much like Text Link Ads except the fact that it doesn’t require a script installation to display the links.  Your visitors and the search engines will have hard time identifying the paid links because of the way BlogRolled works.

This is how it works.  Once an advertiser purchases a blogroll link on your blog, you will be notified of the sale.  Then you will have to log-in to your blog and manually add the listing.  I like this semi-automated process.  Simple enough. 

Now, maybe because the service is still in early stages, I don’t see any blog links listed there for sale.  I don’t know their price ranges yet.  If the price is reasonable for both publishers and advertisers, this will be huge. 

blogrolled

Visit: BlogRolled



How To Make An Absolute Fortune in the Information Products Business by Shawn Casey

Keyword Tool

The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Visit the Book Publicity Gallery to see Documents and Photos of Successful Book Publicity Tours and Information.

Visit the Book Publicity Gallery to see Documents and Photos of Successful Book Publicity Tours and Information.
Visit this link for a whole gallery full of scans from the NY Times and Publisher's Weekly.

Getting Your Book on National TV - 8 Tips


1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign
One of the tools that a self-publishing author must have is good email marketing software. I highly recommend 1-2-All which was developed by Active Campaign.

How to Launch Your Career as an Author, Get Your Book Published and Get Book Publicity: MP3 Audio
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors. Visit www.EverythingYouShouldKnow.com for more details

Arielle Ford, Publicist biography
Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

Write a Book and Get Your Book Published: Subscribe to America's Most Successful Book Publicist's Newsletter Today
Sign up for the free HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED and PUBLICIZED newsletter from Arielle Ford. In case you don't know Arielle by name, she's publicized hundreds of authors and books. 11 of which are #1 Bestsellers. Her clients include Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Neale Donald Walsch, Dean Ornish, Jon Gordon, Debbie Ford, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Arielle has compiled a list of nearly every question a first-time or experienced author wants to know about publishing, publicity, building a platform and the book business. Every issue is jam-packed with answers to the questions that get your book published and you booked on radio, television, newspapers and magazines.

Blogging is Publishing
I wish I could say that "blogging is publishing" was something that I came up with on my own, but that is not the case. However, I have been pondering on this phrase for a while and decided to write an entry on my thoughts.

BEA Book Expo America: Good for Independent Publishers?


BEA Info


Its Name is Zookoda
Zookoda is the new leader in professional email marketing for bloggers. It gives you better control on the look and feel of how your feed is sent to your subscribers. The program is similar to what you see in newsletter...

How to Get Your Book Published: Windows Media Video
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

Getting in Newspapers . . . Easy for our clients


Will E-Publishing Become the New Leader?
Let the truth be told I am not a big supporter of e-books even though I wrote an entry earlier with regards to the advantages of them. Though I am not a fan, e-books are good for one thing, and that is establishing yourself as an expert.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Trap #4: The Trap of One Big Success

Trap #4: The Trap of One Big Success
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, reveals the #4 Internet Marketing trap: you only need one really great product to make a lot of money. Success on the Internet...

Write a Book and Get Your Book Published: Subscribe to America's Most Successful Book Publicist's Newsletter Today
Sign up for the free HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED and PUBLICIZED newsletter from Arielle Ford. In case you don't know Arielle by name, she's publicized hundreds of authors and books. 11 of which are #1 Bestsellers. Her clients include Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Neale Donald Walsch, Dean Ornish, Jon Gordon, Debbie Ford, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Arielle has compiled a list of nearly every question a first-time or experienced author wants to know about publishing, publicity, building a platform and the book business. Every issue is jam-packed with answers to the questions that get your book published and you booked on radio, television, newspapers and magazines.

How to Launch Your Career as an Author, Get Your Book Published and Get Book Publicity: MP3 Audio
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors. Visit www.EverythingYouShouldKnow.com for more details

Trap #3: The Trap of the Internet Guru
5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business In this video, I talk about how easy it is to fall for smooth marketing hype that promise you millions. Internet "gurus" don't always have the right answer for you...

3 Blog Squad Teleclasses this week
Monday, June 23, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (10:00 a.m. Pacific) How to Get the Best Out of Your Blog: A 4-Point System to Get Found, Get Known and Get Clients Part 1 of a 4-Part Teleseminar series hosted by Adam...

4 Keys for Content Marketing that Gets Results
How do you write good content for your web pages (blog, newsletters, articles, press releases, etc.) that also brings in clients and customers and makes sales? Let's face it, talking about how great your product and services are isn't going...

Social Networking Online: How to find out what you need to know
Are you puzzled by buzzwords like "web 2.0" and "social media?" If you're like me, you probably cringed when you started hearing the buzz about MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. At first you could ignore it because it was just for...

iPodder.org : What is podcasting?

Trap #2: You Can Buy Web Traffic
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business In this video, I talk about Internet Marketing Trap #2: You can buy website success. Not. It's a myth. Success on the Internet requires effort...the right kind of effort....

When Works Pass Into The Public Domain

American Red Cross Disaster Relief via Amazon

Million Dollar Product Creation Secrets just released!

How to Get Your Book Published: Windows Media Video
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

Visit the Book Publicity Gallery to see Documents and Photos of Successful Book Publicity Tours and Information.
Visit this link for a whole gallery full of scans from the NY Times and Publisher's Weekly.

How to Get Your Book Published: Quicktime Video
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

Arielle Ford, Publicist biography
Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

Adobe Digital Media Store - The Leading Source of PDF eBooks & eDocs! - Attention Publishers!

Trap #5: The Trap of Manifesting by Meditation and Visualization
The 5 Traps of Internet Marketing that Can Derail Your Business Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, reveals the #5 Internet Marketing trap: it takes more than the Law of Attraction to be successful online. You have to get into...

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign

1-2-All Email Marketing by Active Campaign
One of the tools that a self-publishing author must have is good email marketing software. I highly recommend 1-2-All which was developed by Active Campaign.

Its Name is Zookoda
Zookoda is the new leader in professional email marketing for bloggers. It gives you better control on the look and feel of how your feed is sent to your subscribers. The program is similar to what you see in newsletter...

Blogging is Publishing
I wish I could say that "blogging is publishing" was something that I came up with on my own, but that is not the case. However, I have been pondering on this phrase for a while and decided to write an entry on my thoughts.

Four Marketing Tips for Self-Publishers
You may have already noticed that self-publishing is very time consuming. Most of your time is spent on marketing and publicity and very little time on writing.

Don’t make this Adsense mistake
One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS. Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored [...]

One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS.

Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements.” This includes any text directly above our ads that could be confused with, or attempt to be associated with Google ads.

TOS clearly states that publishers may not use labels other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements”. But as you may have seen already, people become creative when it comes to labeling their ad units. I’ve seen people putting, “Articles, Navigation, Books, and Latest News” as the title of the ad unit.

Usually Google sends out warning letters first if they think you are using a wrong label. Just be careful of what you are doing with it.



Free Stock Photos from Electronic Perceptions
Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them. One thing I would like to see is some free [...]

Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them.

One thing I would like to see is some free high-resolution stock photos. I know she can do whatever she wants to do with her photos, but I feel that she can attract more traffic to her site if she gives away high-resolution versions for some of her photo sets. That would be really awesome.

I highly suggest that you bookmark her blog. New stock photos are posted daily basis. Thanks Kathy!

Samples
Red and Green Tableware

Visit : Electronic Perceptions for Free Stock Photos



The Advantages of Creating Your Own E-Book
E-books have become more and more popular in the recent years. Although some people prefer a printed book in their hand, e-books are still in demand.

YPN vs Adsense
David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot. Very interesting read, please check it out. Making Money with YPN

David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot.

Very interesting read, please check it out.

Making Money with YPN



Will E-Publishing Become the New Leader?
Let the truth be told I am not a big supporter of e-books even though I wrote an entry earlier with regards to the advantages of them. Though I am not a fan, e-books are good for one thing, and that is establishing yourself as an expert.

WordPress 2.5.1
Upgrade your WordPress immediately.  WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today.  It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes.  Here are some highlights of improvements : Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages. Better performance for those who have many categories Media Uploader fixes An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7 Widget Administration fixes Various [...]

Upgrade your WordPress immediately.  WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today.  It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes. 

Here are some highlights of improvements :

  • Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages.
  • Better performance for those who have many categories
  • Media Uploader fixes
  • An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7
  • Widget Administration fixes
  • Various usability improvements
  • Layout fixes for IE

One of the most annoying bugs in WP 2.5 was the media uploader bug.  It just wouldn’t work for me.  Uploading works fine, but once it is uploaded I can’t retreive it using the gallery menu.  WordPress 2.5.1 fixed some of the media uploader problems, but from my testing, it still needs improvements.  I can now upload and view the file fine, but I still can’t insert images to my posts.  I hope they get fix it quickly. 

If you want to learn more about WordPress 2.5.1 go to WordPress Blog



Classic Books Summed Up in 3 Lines (or Less)
Written by BEN JOSEPH 1984 WINSTON: Don’t tell the Party, but sex is way better than totalitarianism. EVERYONE: Surprise! We’re the Party. WINSTON: Oh, rats. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. LEWIS: Finally, a utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals. THE WITCH: Hi, I’m a sexually mature woman of power and confidence. C.S. LEWIS: Ah! Kill it, lion [...]

Written by BEN JOSEPH

1984

WINSTON: Don’t tell the Party, but sex is way better than totalitarianism.

EVERYONE: Surprise! We’re the Party.

WINSTON: Oh, rats.


The Lion, the Witch

and the Wardrobe

C.S. LEWIS: Finally, a utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals.

THE WITCH: Hi, I’m a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.

C.S. LEWIS: Ah! Kill it, lion Jesus!


Paradise Lost

ADAM: Paradise has arbitrary dietary restrictions?

DEVIL: They’re really more like guidelines.

GOD: Incorrect.


Moby-Dick

ISHMAEL: I’m existential.

AHAB: Really? Try vengeance.

ISHMAEL: I dig this dynamic. Can we drag it out for 600 pages?


The Great Gatsby

NICK: I love being rich and white.

GATSBY: Me, too, but I’d kill for the love of a woman.

DAISY: We can work with that.


Oliver Twist

OLIVER: Poverty ain’t so bad, what with all the Cockney accents and charming musical interludes.

ME: Thanks to movies, no books were read in the passing of this class.

PROFESSOR WATERMAN: You’re half right.

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Download Firefox 3
Did you know that Firefox 3 is out? It’s a major release. I can already tell the difference in performance. It’s lightning fast. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the new version, but I can already tell that it looks sleek. Firefox 3 is supposed to be more secure and [...]

Did you know that Firefox 3 is out? It’s a major release. I can already tell the difference in performance. It’s lightning fast. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the new version, but I can already tell that it looks sleek.

Firefox 3 is supposed to be more secure and easier to use. You can test some of their improved security features on the Firefox 3 Release Notes webpage.

Download Firefox 3 now. You will love it.



The new MarketingSyndrome.com
Thanks for visiting MarketingSyndrome.com. Over the last 3 years, I’ve been blogging about niche marketing and I had great time doing it. It was a great learning experience for me. I’ve learned great deal of blogging and communication skills along the way. Last year, I moved the main blog to a [...]

Thanks for visiting MarketingSyndrome.com. Over the last 3 years, I’ve been blogging about niche marketing and I had great time doing it. It was a great learning experience for me. I’ve learned great deal of blogging and communication skills along the way.

Last year, I moved the main blog to a subdirectory so I can do something else with the main domain. But I didn’t find a great use of the domain since. Just last month, I came up with an idea that I can transform it into a blog that talks about blogging :)

Because the niche marketing I do for living is closely tied to blogging, I’d talk about blogging as well. That way, I can finally fulfill the purpose of MarketingSyndrome.com. Now, my niche marketing blog will continue, but the main page will be transformed into a new blog. Old contents are already updated and I recycled as much as I could.

Thanks again for visiting my new blog and I hope to see many ideas evolve from my blog.



The Corporate Blogging Book
Stop what you are doing and run out to your local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Why? Because you need to have in your hand at this very moment The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil.

Podcast recommendation
I recently found a great marketing podcast whi is better than some of the paid seminars that I’ve listened to. Make sure to add this podcast to your bookmark! Enjoy! Internet Business Mastery

I recently found a great marketing podcast whi is better than some of the paid seminars that I’ve listened to. Make sure to add this podcast to your bookmark! Enjoy!

Internet Business Mastery



FilePub - free file hosting service
FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip. It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on [...]

FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip.

It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on your blog. You can save bandwidth and the web space if you host these big files outside of your web hosting server. FilePub is perfect for that. Read their terms of service before you upload your files.

How to upload a file
Click “Browse” and choose a file. Once the file is selected, just click “Click to Upload” That’s it!

Once the file is uploaded, you will be redirected to a folder. From there, you can either view the full version of the image or download it.

By the way the screen shots used in this post are hosted at FilePub. Here is another example of a uploaded file (2.16MB).

Visit: FilePub.com



BlogRolled - Make Money with Your Blogroll
I saw this coming.  Now you can make money with your blogrolls with BlogRolled.  It works pretty much like Text Link Ads except the fact that it doesn’t require a script installation to display the links.  Your visitors and the search engines will have hard time identifying the paid links because of the way BlogRolled works. This is [...]

I saw this coming.  Now you can make money with your blogrolls with BlogRolled.  It works pretty much like Text Link Ads except the fact that it doesn’t require a script installation to display the links.  Your visitors and the search engines will have hard time identifying the paid links because of the way BlogRolled works.

This is how it works.  Once an advertiser purchases a blogroll link on your blog, you will be notified of the sale.  Then you will have to log-in to your blog and manually add the listing.  I like this semi-automated process.  Simple enough. 

Now, maybe because the service is still in early stages, I don’t see any blog links listed there for sale.  I don’t know their price ranges yet.  If the price is reasonable for both publishers and advertisers, this will be huge. 

blogrolled

Visit: BlogRolled



WordPress 2.1 is ready
WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it. Download WordPress 2.1.

WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it.

Download WordPress 2.1.



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8 Free Online Resources For Learning A New Language
Written by David DeFranza Perhaps the most useful skill you can carry is knowledge of the local language. It can open up a startling range of opportunities, ease the strain of logistics and planning, and allow you to develop a deeper connection with the place and, more importantly, the people you are visiting. With a little advanced planning, [...]

Written by David DeFranza

Learning a new languagePerhaps the most useful skill you can carry is knowledge of the local language.

It can open up a startling range of opportunities, ease the strain of logistics and planning, and allow you to develop a deeper connection with the place and, more importantly, the people you are visiting.

With a little advanced planning, and an introduction to the basics, it can be surprisingly easy to pick up a language on the road.

A good phrasebook, and the dedication to use it, are the first steps to mastering a new tongue. Beyond that, an organized set of study materials can make all the difference between stumbling though a few disjointed commonalities and articulately expressing your ideas and opinions.

While most travelers understand this, who wants to buy and carry around a pile of language books? Fortunately, there are a number of excellent internet sites devoted to language study, most of them providing their services for free.

1. BBC Languages

The BBC offers comprehensive online courses in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and Greek, with slightly briefer introductions to several other languages.

This incredible, totally free, service is the best option for starting a new language from the beginning as the curricula are well designed, very complete, and easy to follow; all important features of a self-study program.

2. MIT OpenCourseWare

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has made a great effort to supply all of its course materials online for the free use of MIT students and the global internet community.

The Languages and Literatures department features courses in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, German and Spanish in addition to many interesting literature and culture topics.

While the usefulness of the materials provided varies depending on the course, they all include a detailed study plan to aid the self-learner in structuring a home course.

3. Internet Polyglot

The Internet Polyglot provides study materials for twenty-one languages. The unit-based materials available are ideal for a student already familiar with the basics of the language and interested in practicing specific areas and applications.

4. The Open University LeaningSpace

Similar to the Internet Polyglot, the LearingSpace provides unit-based study materials with a primary emphasis in French and Spanish.

lost on the street5. Language Learning Podcasts

In the last few years, there has been an explosion of podcasts devoted to learning a language. These resources provide important sound cues and practical pronunciation guides, and are an invaluable tool for a self-study program.

To find podcasts, iTunes users can navigate to the “education” category of the iTunes Music Store. Other listeners can browse popular podcast databases like Odeo or The Podcast Directory.

A highlight of some of the more popular language podcasts includes Learn Greek, The French Podcast, ChinesePod, A Taste of Russian, and the Cherokee Language Podcast.

6. Madinah Arabic Language Course

For those interested in learning Arabic, the Madinah Course is the best online course available for free. Focusing on both spoken and written Arabic, this course takes the student from the first introductions through the advanced beginner level.

7. Livemocha

Livemocha is a social networking community focused on learning foreign languages. It provides free online courses in German, Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish, and Hindi with plans to expand to other languages in the future.

In addition to the online courses, available from introductory to intermediate levels, Livemocha provides an active community of language learners and native speakers willing to work with you and give help when needed.

This community based approach makes Livemocha one of the most useful tools for the self-study of language.

8. Something Completely Different

Travelers interested in learning a more obscure, or even endangered language, should begin their research at the Ethnologue, an online database of all of the world’s 6,912 known living languages.

For more specific study, check out the Sanskrit Self Study program, an introductory course for learning Tibetan, Yucatec Maya language study materials, the great book Introduction to Zulu, or the Comparative Bantu Languages Dictionary.

Learning a new language requires time and dedication and can be a challenge no matter how good the tools available.

Still, these online resources are accessible anywhere you can find an internet connection and will make all the difference when trying to tame that new tongue, at home or abroad.

What are some your favourite online resources for learning a new language? Please share in the comments!

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