TrafficJam.com by John Reese

The circle closes. BlogRush user data manifests at TrafficJam.com for a quick, easy look at the days events according to the BlogRush member network.

Bloggers have a new place to rank on the web with TrafficJam.com, the latest addition to the John Reese marketing arsenal. If you are a BlogRush member (free to join blog widget traffic network), you are automatically placed in the TrafficJam aggregator according to the popularity or “hotness” of your latest posts withing the network.

If your post is getting more clicks than others in your category or even overall in the network, you show up at the top of the results for any given day.

I know this because I just checked my stats and noticed some traffic coming from TrafficJam.com. I go and check and see that I am number 2 on the main page for one of my latest posts.

This is the first time I’ve shown up on the front page since this relatively new directory started, and I think I know why. If you are a BlogRush member you are coached to be creative with your blog titles. The better titles get clicked more on the network, sending you more traffic.

I guess my post about making almost $42,000 in 24 Hours (even though it was about Qassia Dollars) caught a lot of attention on the BlogRush widgets around the web in my category!

That was nice proof for me that John Reese has figured out how to tie BlogRush and TrafficJam tightly together, with TrafficJam reflecting accurately what’s being clicked on the most in the BlogRush network.

I can tell you that it sends a decent amount of traffic to be on the first page of the network. Especially for the amount of effort I put into it: a blog post I’d have written regardless of the chance to get picked up on the TrafficJam network.

How to Show Up In The TrafficJam Blog Aggregator

Just join BlugRush and follow the instructions. Once you are in BlogRush you will be eligible to rank on TrafficJam.

If you are already a BlogRush user and haven’t had a post hit the front page at TrafficJam, make sure you spend the time to think about how your next blog post title is going to look in the widget. Make it appealing, outrageous, interesting, or something that will catch eyes.

That’s what you’re supposed to be doing with your titles anyway. Writing a good title for the BlogRush widget is the same as writing a good title to draw your readers in from all over the web.

Oh, and put TrafficJam.com on your list of places to check out daily to see what stuff IS rising to the top so you can tailor your posts and headlines accordingly.

Tags: blog marketing, blogrush, john reese, traffic jam, trafficjam review, trafficjam.com

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How I Made $41,925.00 in 24 Hours

This is the easiest money to be made on the web.  Yesterday I posted about Qassia and how you could use it to generate buzz and valuable links back to your main sites.

What I didn’t talk about is the opportunity -right now while they are in beta and building their membership - to earn Qassia Dollars.

In the first 12 hours after you join (for free) everyone you refer pays you $500 Qassia Dollars.  You can’t spend this money at the Sharper Image.  It is only there to help you rank higher in their directory, sorry.  The more money you generate with referrals AND by posting and screening content, what they call “Intel,” the higher you will rank in their  directory.

The directory is on the way (they need a decent member base first) and once it is up they will probably come out of Beta and it will be much harder to earn Qassia Dollars.  In fact, you won’t ever be able to earn $500 per referral again.

So, this is a “Social Maven” strategy whereby you gain a lot more traction in this community now than all the tens of thousands who will join after Beta and they reduce the referral amount.  At that point it will be $10 here and there for screening content and rating it and whatever they give you for referring others.

In 24 hours I racked up a tidy sum.  Think of all the friends you have in all the social networks you belong to who own sites who would love to check this neat site out and take advantage of this Beta themselves.

When it launches you can be in the top of their directory instead of trying to earn Qassia dollars the way the “peasants” will have to - the hard way!

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The Wisdom of Dosh Dosh

I have been watching a certain blog explode in popularity over the last year. I resist pangs of envy by remembering I have 2 corporations to run, 2 major membership sites, a 2 year old, and a lot of consulting to do. But man it still bugs me that Maki writes as well as he does!

I spend so much time showing people what to do with one site, one blog, and how to put all their time into it with laser focus that I don’t get to write as much and as deeply as I’d like. Not even close.

But if you want proof of just how far you can go in a year’s time by being focused on one property and one product generating pure authority in your niche, DoshDosh.com is a perfect example.

About Maki: “Apart from managing Dosh Dosh, I’m also currently a Political Science and Philosophy student in Toronto, Canada.”

See? Philosophy! This proves he gets to sit around and think a lot about writing killer content! (You know I’m kidding Maki)

DoshDosh has much wisdom to absorb and I am going to share with you my favorite posts. If you cannot improve your marketing after reading the following posts you are safe in knowing you are completely incapable of grasping the business of web publishing and marketing and get back to your day job.

• How to get traffic and links from popular blogs: Networking and Email Pitching
• Dosh Dosh Reaches 10,000 Subscribers (and the Reason Why People Subscribe to a Blog)
• A Very Simple Method to Increase your RSS Subscribers & MyBloglog community members
• A Comprehensive Guide to StumbleUpon (This one is truly awesome!)
• Content Development Strategies

I’ve just realized that I might end up linking to the majority of his popular articles, so I need to stop duplicating content and let you peruse this traffic treasure trove yourself.

Most of the keys to your success can be found in the pages of DoshDosh if authority, traffic, social proof, and profits are what you’re after.

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Michelle MacPhearson’s 30 Minute Backlinks

Michelle has released a new case study showing the effectiveness of her new 30 Minute Backlinks system. She got a static page on a brand new domain to #5 in Google in around 3 days.

We sometimes do that in minutes with blogs, but the telling part about the effectiveness of her method is that she did it on a static page on a brand new domain. Basically she came from out of nowhere and went to #5 in Google for her top term.

Suggest you go take a look at her video…

Check out 30 Minute Backlinks!

Tags: 30 minute backlinks, link building, michelle macphearson

Qassia Breaks the Mold for Social News Sites

We all have a HubPage. We all have Squidoo Lenses. We know what they do for us and what we like and dislike about them.

Now there’s a new kid on the block that puts a few twists on the “satellite page” business: Qassia.

The focus is rewards.

Both revenue sharing and earning Qassia dollars in order to help you rank in their directory higher than smaller earners. You earn Qassia dollars by writing “intel” in the form of articles from your blog or totally original content written right on site.

Everything you do on the site contributes to more visibility on their network and more visibility for you site.

And its totally free. Qassia is a great Social Power Linking site for sure.

Tags: link building, qassia, qassia review, social marketing, social news sites

Michel Fortin on Writing

Helpful Hints for Writing
Guest Post By Michel Fortin

An interesting question was recently asked of me in a discussion forum: “I agree with the idea of submitting articles [in order to get] a lot of targeted visitors to a site, however, I was wondering, ‘What keeps Michel Fortin writing?’ I mean, Michel, what is your 3-, 5- or 7-point formula to get an article on paper? What are [some of the specific] steps you follow?”

Here’s my answer.

1. I’m subscribed to a ton of ezines and blogs.

As an “expert” (if I dare call myself that) in my field, I must keep abreast of my industry — so should you. But the wonderful byproduct is that something I’ve read will stir a few ideas in my mind about something worth writing.

The gazillion of ezines and blogs to which I’m subscribed are filtered in my software (both email and RSS readers) into folders for later reading. What I do, however, is filter such articles for keywords that I decide, in advance, about which I feel there’s a need to write.

As for my RSS reader, I use FeedDemon.com. The beauty with FeedDemon is that is not only synchronizes your feeds with the online service NewsGator, but it also has filtering capabilities such as a “bin” (i.e., folder) for copying posts that mention a particular keyword, such as my name, “copywriting,” “Internet marketing,” “salesletter,” and so forth.

But it also has an external keyword-based blog search (on Technorati, Google Blog, del.icio.us, MSN, and more). What it does is search blog networks for a specific keyword or phrase (that’s how I know people talk about me in the blogosphere, for example) that I can file for later retrieval.

It gives you the ability to copy specific posts in a “Newsbin” and even flag/label specific posts. Whenever I want to post about a topic, I can do a simple search through my 300+ feeds for posts that contain a specific tag or keyword, and copy the results to the news bin, for later perusal.

As for email, copies of all the email ezine issues I receive are filtered into a master folder (i.e., the filtered email is moved into its appropriate folder for later reading and a copy is also placed into this master folder, both simultaneously — most email filters or rules do this ). In my master folder, I do a text-based search for certain keywords (e.g., topics, ideas, events, etc) about which I can write.

2. I create a skeleton article or post.

Then, I create an outline. To do this, I write down keywords or keyphrases, in point/bullet form, representing future paragraphs or phrases, and the subjects I’d like to cover in those paragraphs or idea blocks.

This allows me to see, at a glance, the flow of the article and then reorganize them so there’s a better structure and organization of ideas. As you know, some points within an article are best mentioned in strategic locations within the article, and the outline allows me to do exactly that, even before I start writing.

Writing keywords in bullet form and then expanding those keywords into full paragraphs is the easiest way for me to write — it may not be for most people. For me, though, since the keywords or keyphrases are based on specific topics, the flow seems natural and I can see, quickly, if there is cohesiveness within the article.

What I do is follow the three major steps:

Introduction
Body (Content)
Conclusion
It comes back to that famous rule: “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em,” “tell ‘em,” and then “tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” But let’s take a look at each element in detail.

a) Introduction:

I’ll start with something that announces the topic, prepares the reader and gently takes them into the body of the article — something that “tickles” them in order to pull them into the article. (Creating headlines is last for me.)

This is also used as an excerpt when I post to my blog, particularly when you hit the front page. (By the way, you may not know this, but the excerpt, which is the first 80 words or so, are also automatically incorporated into the meta-description tag of the page’s HTML code.) Ultimately, using introductions as a way to get people to start reading is crucial.

b) Body (Content):

Then I prepare the core components of the article (usually, it will be three main points, expanded, and I often use headings for these three core components). Generally, I resort to the use of adverbs as bases for expanding on the topics — my “five honest serving men,” as the saying goes, “which are who, what, why, where and when.”

Now, a paragraph is not entirely dedicated to one question, as it may be covered in other places within the article, and in a strategic location that flows better with the thought process I want the reader to have while they are reading it. But I do make sure the article covers most if not all of them.

c) Conclusion:

It’s a recap or summary of the article, with a final word — like the “moral of a story,” “final analysis,” or “bottom-line,” offering an actionable step, a question upon which to ponder or a cliffhanger (maybe leading to another article).

In terms of software, I use TextPad, which is a text editor. (I never write articles directly into the blog or HTML software, lest my connection goes down and I lose everything I wrote. I also don’t use Microsoft Word or any other word processor, as copying them into my blog or website may also copy junk created by the software’s proprietary code.)

I’ve been using TextPad for years, now. It’s like Notepad but on steroids. It has a spellchecking feature with a lot of macros, file managing functions, integrated character maps, etc. Even HTML tags and split windows when writing various parts of the same article, at the same time. It also has a hard-break feature so that I can split-wrap my articles at 65 characters — which is the norm.

3. Then, I just write.

I temporarily put my “critical editor” hat aside and I just keep writing, non-stop. I don’t even stop to read what I’ve written. I just write! Once done, I stop, read again and edit for style and grammar — of course, with the kind help of my TextPad’s spellchecker.

Sometimes I’ll take whole sentences out and add new ones in. I’ll rewrite passages I feel aren’t clear. I’ll cut and paste some paragraphs where I feel they belong best. (In fact, after writing a bit I can see where my outline, created earlier, may need a bit of revamping.)

And then bingo: The final product.

As for the frequency, I write all the time. What I often do is prepare a ton of skeleton articles in advance and save them for future use. (I do this with Microsoft OneNote, which is a fabulous piece of software that allows you to save clippings, audios, videos, URLs, notes, comments, you name it.)

I use Thunderbird (from the folks at Firefox) for my email. The neat thing is that I can create new “temporary” filters. Ezines are filtered into temporary folders in order to research more information on the topics I’d like to cover. From there, I move copies of specific articles that match a keyword search into new temporary folders for research in creating future articles.

I can jot down URLs and specific data pertaining to articles — when I don’t use OneNote, I sometimes send an email to myself with the notes I’ve made and have them filed in those specific “temporary” folders.

While I seem to be using Microsoft OneNote more these days, there are several freeware desktop note-making applications on the web, such as notes software from 3M, the makers of Post-It Notes. (There’s also Google Notebook, as well as some of the social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, that do the same.)

I also have with me, most of the time, a small tape recorder or notepad (a cellular phone and Palm Pilot are also good for taking notes). I record some thoughts that pop into my head from time to time.

I’ll give you an example: I’m driving to a client. While in my car, I listen to the news. Then all of sudden, bang! An idea hits me. I’ll record it immediately and use that as a basis for an article — or for that week’s blog post, for example.

I also frequently use a service like iDictate.com. After opening an account, I get a 1-800 number and, after calling in and dictating my “thoughts,” a few hours later I get a transcription by email. This is absolutely perfect when I’m on the road. (I also use it to write copy for salesletters, too.)

4. I edit, edit and edit some more.

In terms of proofreading, what I do, when I have a chance, is have my articles read by my wife Sylvie, friends or associates. Often, they see things I don’t see. I miss things that are blatantly obvious but overlook them since I tend to read my article the same way I wrote it.

In fact, the best method, I’ve found, is to read the article slowly, to myself, out loud. Really! If I notice that my speech slurs or fumbles at some point in the article, or that a passage just doesn’t sound right, then I know that something was poorly written and I’ll rewrite it for clarity.

I’ve used dictation software before, but I don’t use it normally. (I prefer iDictate.com. You don’t have to train it like software, as it’s transcribed by real human beings. I talk more than I write, and as a professional speaker and storyteller, I talk a lot :). So iDictate is a godsend for me.)

Finally, I regularly spend 18 to 20 hours a day on my computer and on the web. Like I said, I read and write a lot. I’m a virtual sponge. And surfing the web, believe it or not, is one of the most creative processes in which I engage myself.

Some people call me “expert” or “guru.” I hate that. In reality, I’m more of a perpetual student. I read intensely and love new ideas and trends. But I scan a lot, too. I usually receive about 2,000 emails and blog post notifications a day (I’m not kidding), two-thirds of which are ezines and blogs in the areas of copywriting, marketing, Internet marketing and sales.

Creativity is known to be one of my biggest talents — as a copywriter and marketing consultant, creativity is a must. But in terms of writing articles, it’s as necessary as oxygen. I always like to write about either what hasn’t been written or something that’s been scarcely written. (You know as I do that the web is filled of recycled, rehashed content.)

However, it doesn’t have to be new per se. What stirs that creativity is often not something completely new but something on which I want to opine. Thus, a new article or blog post may be as simple as my own take, or a different twist, on an existing topic.

—

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.
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Tags: blogging tips, how to write, michel fortin, writing tips, writing tips for bloggers

A New Money Making Widget Hits the Web

Niche Widget is the newest in a long line of attempts to draw more profits out of website traffic. And it looks like it just might have the profit formula down pat.

What I like about it is it covers a lot of different niches (has hundreds of products tied to it) and not just bloggers or marketers. This makes it worthy of a test on blogs and sites of all kinds in major to minor markets.

The Niche Widget is free. Test it on your site today!

Tags: advertising widget, blog monetization, make money, niche widget

Ecommerce Goes Social

Site: Threadless.com

Business model: User generated t-shirt designs. Community generated profits.

How It Works

“Without you, baby, there ain’t no us!” -Threadless.com

Users submit artwork for T-shirt designs. If they get popular, artists get what I consider the first real reward worth going for on a social revenue share site: $10,000 for the popularity of the design and $2500 more in reprints and other goodies.

The problem with revenue sharing in social media has always been that the companies have been extremely stingy and keep most of the money, preferring to dole out trinkets and pennies to the users who made their sites popular in the first place.

(HubPages is a great example. Revenue sharing Google Adsense is a ridiculous model even for the highest traffic participants, yet sites like it still act as though they are cutting edge by allowing you to have a few pennies a month from your meager Adsense revenue - even high traffic pages only make a pittance.)

Threadless.com is going the right route by making users a real part of their model and sharing a lot more of the pie. Their success is absolutely assured with this model and users are paid more what they are worth.

The time for “let them eat cake” is over with social media revenue sharing models of the past. Users are wise to the fact that they are the machine that generates the interest in these kinds of sites. And now they have an example of how they should be treated for making a site wildly popular.

Thanks to Bryan Azorsky from Bagettes.com for sharing this cool site with me today!

Tags: revenue sharing, social communities, social media, social t-shirts

How to Make DVDs - And Make More Money!

Do you know why so many experts put their content on DVDs?  It’s all about the Benjamins (money!)

For the same content you’d normally deliver via a blog, an ebook, or series of paid videos or audios you’d stream online behind a membership site, you can put it on DVD and increase your profits drastically!

It’s no real secret why we’ve put several products out, like our live seminars in Vegas, on DVD.  They sell better and at higher prices than we can get for streaming them online.

By simply putting part or all of your audio and video inventory on DVD and selling it through a fulfillment company you can increase profits substantially and reach a customer base that is more comfortable consuming that content in DVD format.

How To Make A DVD Product

Aye, there’s the rub, right?  How does this all work?  How do you make a DVD and then turn around and hook up with a fulfillment company to do the dirty work of copying and packaging and mailing the product for you?

That’s where my friend Mike Stewart can help.  He’s doing a special training on DVD production that is going to be packed full of people who want to learn how to make DVDs and turn old products (and new products) into fresh profits.

One of the easiest business models of all time on the web is running your traffic to a DVD product sales page and having people purchase, having your fulfillment company do all the dirty work, and you just collect the money.

If you’ve ever thought of what it would do for your authority in your market to have a professional DVD package (its like having a real book, but a lot easier to put together than writing a book!) then get in on Mike’s training.

He’s the best in the business.  Plus he’s giving away a free lesson and $150 worth of 60 second themes just for taking a look!

Sign up for “How to  Make a DVD” training by Mike Stewart!

That’s NOT an affiliate link!

I just want FTR readers to get something out of this and come back and say “You know Jack, I took you up on that advice and now I have my product on DVD and we are making more money than we ever have!  Thanks!”

Tags: dvd production, how to make a dvd, make a dvd, mike stewart

Authority Black Book 2008 Advance Peek

In early 2007 a free guide was released that started the conversation about social marketing. It set the standard for organized, professional marketing with social media.

The Authority Black Book was named the best free ebook for bloggers by Mashable.com, a social media community with over 5 million visitors per month (easily the largest community online dedicated to the latest news in social media and social marketing).

Early in 2007 no one but a handful of bloggers was really talking about social marketing as an organized marketing system. In 2006 we were doing training calls on social marketing for small to large websites when, again, no one was talking about anything social other than spamming Myspace to get a lot of friends.

So, a lot of people downloaded and continue to download the Authority Black Book every single day. It is recognized as the industry leader in social marketing education and we never charged a cent for it.

After the success of the Black Book in 2007 and after “social marketing experts” have now dropped out of the trees from every direction since the Black Book was launched (where most of them learned what they are now training for big bucks), it is no small feat to come up with a great sophomore release.

But I think we’ve done just that. In the next week we are going to be releasing Authority Black Book 2008 to the public.

Right now we have advance copies in the hands of bloggers around the world and our clients at ASC and SPL are tearing through the guide as fast as they can to gain an edge or to get the scoop on the latest from an award-winning franchise before others get a chance to report on it.

This year’s Black Book has been drastically updated. Social marketing moves very fast and several adjustments and additions needed to be made in order to keep ahead of the pack and continue to provide the best free social marketing eduction on the web alive and strong.

It’s not just full of hardcore traffic driving tips and resources! This baby is even sexy!

It is hard to compete with shiny things like video and audio these days. But if we’d turned the Black Book into a video course it would be gigabytes in size and would choke even broadband connections for hours while it downloaded.

So, we made the thing easier to read and reference, and made it more exciting to interact with. If you have to read, at least this read will be entertaining and easy on the eyes!

Plus, the Black Book is now only 67 pages due to a new 2 column layout. (The original Word version was 117 pages, making it longer than the 2007 version.)

What Will You Learn?

You will learn something far different than the “just add water” social marketing Chia Pet experts are teaching. You will learn responsibility in social marketing and tactics that will boost your rankings in the search engines. You will learn to drive heavy, direct traffic from authority links you acquire with my methods without spamming or doing the short-term gain methods that don’t build critical mass for a real online business.

For example, did you know that all that traffic from Digg everyone else is talking about is all but worthless? Yikes! But its true and you need to know how to go far beyond simply getting traffic from the social networks themselves in order to get quality, measurable results from social marketing.

Its not the traffic from hitting the front page of Digg or any other social network that professional social marketers are actually concerned with, despite the shallow inferences many of the overnight experts make to the contrary.

Yes the major social sites combined get more traffic than Google or any of the other behemoths. This is the basis of our attraction to social marketing. But to say that because Facebook gets 30 some odd million visitors a month you should go set up a profile and then PAY for advertising on that network…well..that’s not actually anything close to social marketing.

We don’t pay for any advertising. Paying for advertising is the exact opposite of social marketing even if you do it on a social community.

What kind of traffic and links you get is important.

And the kind a lot of new social marketing experts are touting is the trashiest kind you can get for raw conversions and amount of time spent on site.

You really have to know what you are shooting for before embarking on a social marketing campaign, and that’s what makes the Black Book different than all the other courses (even the $2000 coaching programs) because I tell you what works and what to do instead of telling you what I think you want to hear about social marketing.

What have I got to lose by telling a few uncomfortable truths? I’m giving the thing away, right?

So stay tuned. Someone, somewhere is going to give you a shout out and let you know when you can pick up a copy of the 2008 Black Book.

When your get the nod, drop everything and grab that puppy because you are going to see a marked increase in high quality, converting traffic, higher search rankings on more keyword terms than you thought possible, and voluntary editorial links from virtually everyone who is considered an authority in your market niche.

Tags: authority black book, authority black book 2008, black book, jack humphrey

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