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Limited Consulting Spots With Jack Humphrey Are Open

August 31, 2008

Note: 3 spots left as of 9/09/08

I have decided to take on 5 new clients to teach them everything I know about becoming the authority in your niche.

I don’t do this often. In fact, the last time I did personal 1-on1 consulting was around this time last year. It’s just very hard to shake enough time loose and it can be draining for me, as I put everything I’ve got into my clients’ success.

Not for Tire Kickers

The program I’ve designed is not for the feint of heart. Successful applicants will have their entrepreneurial spirit and stamina tested over a 2 month period. Only people up for the biggest challenge of their online business career thus far need apply.

Results

I will be picking the best applicants from the field based on what I think I can do for them and how much “spirit” they demonstrate for the project.

I like to stack the deck in favor of dramatic results, so I will be choosing clients with the best ideas, niches, and potential for significant growth in traffic, rankings, and profits.

Check out my consulting page for more details. Remember, there are only 5 spots available. I can’t handle any more than that at this time. I expect the spots will be filled very shortly.

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Nitro Quattro Review

August 29, 2008

As one of the relative few who have had a chance to put the Nitro Quattro program in place for our line of products, I’m one of the only people who can really give an insider’s view on the product.

I’ve told the guys at Nitro how impressed I’ve been with the results their system has gotten for our company.  We’ve tripled our customer value with it.  That means we are making, on average, triple the money we were making the day before we put the system into place over the summer.

Today a new customer averages around $200 in value to us.  Before we put the Nitro Quattro system in place we were averaging only between $60 - $70 per customer.

Think about what that means for a minute…

Without tripling the amount of traffic we were getting to all our software and membership sites (which is the only other way to triple your profits) we were able to get significantly more out of each customer we were already bringing in day to day.

If we’d started from scratch instead of having to fit our current product line into the Quattro sales system, we’d have been able to do even better.  Many have asked me if this would work as well without having a product line already in place like we did.

My answer is:  It would work even better if you designed your product line to best fit into the Nitro system.  So this isn’t a system that will only work for those of us with an established line of products.  It is something that will work for anyone whether you are developing your products now or you have an established group of products that are just “floating” separately on the web like ours were.

What the Quattro System Does

In a nutshell, it gives continuity to your product line.  It presents your products in a way that makes sense to customers while showing them everything you can do for them (or offer them) at the most crucial point in the sales process.

Before, we were selling individual products, like our software, and then poorly following up with email to introduce the other products in our line.  The customers had cooled off by then and our backend sales were much more stale than they are now.

For instance, we don’t have a bunch of products for a bunch of different markets.  We have a line of software, training, and memberships that help our customers with the same things on different levels and in different ways.  Our entire line is geared toward a certain market.   Before, that market was never clear on everything we offered to help them be better marketers under our old system.

Now that we are presenting our entire line in one buying sequence, customers are making sense of what we have to offer in its entirety and making good decisions on what they want to take advantage of in one buying sequence, like picking from an interactive menu of products and services.

My Rating

This is not a product review for a buddy, done as a favor without even knowing what the product is.  We are using this system and it has tripled our business without us having to triple our traffic.

The hardest part about writing this review is keeping myself in check to avoid hype.  Because tripling our business, as you could imagine, makes all of us in the company want to scream from the roof tops about how much we appreciate the guys at Nitro from bringing us their system!

I highly recommend the Nitro Quattro system to anyone wanting to profit more with the traffic they already have and build stronger relationships faster with your new customers.

The Nitro Quattro course is easily the “Marketing Product of the Year” for me and our company, hands down.

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Free “16 Steps to Success” Coaching Launches Today

August 27, 2008

Guest Post by Sam Clark, 16 Steps to Success Coach

Just today, thousands of people logged onto the internet searching web page after web page to find a way to work from home. It can be a very difficult chore figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

More often than not, many people are confused about to how to build their business even after buying expensive internet business training programs. Every time you log on and check your email there is the latest and greatest way to get rich.

Therein lies one of the biggest problems for most people trying to develop a business online.They are looking for a magic pill that will spit money out of their computers. Unfortunately many people are misguided and waste precious time and money looking for this magic pill.

The magic pill to online marketing success comes down to the fact that there is no magic pill.

You need to roll up your sleeves and get to work. One of the ways to succeed quicker is to invest in yourself and find a good internet business training program that will show you how to properly build your business.

Choosing an internet business coaching program comes down to doing your homework on who is providing the training and what their track record is. Another aspect is what kind of support and training are they going to provide.

As you go through the training you will have many questions so you will want to have good support as well.

To build your business online by utilizing an internet business training program, you will want to find out if there are foundational principals that you can follow along with.

One of the first components is setting up your business properly and getting highly organized. You may literally have hundreds of places and resources online that you will need to access. So make sure you take the time in your early days to get yourself organized.

I found through a survey I conducted that over 86% of people skip this vital part and jump right into trying to make money online. Information overload sets in and suddenly steals your time as you bounce around the office looking for that password to a site, or trying to figure out the web address of that very helpful site you were on last week.

This is a common problem I have found that many marketers overlook and it hurts their business in a big way. When information overload sets in they tend to spin out of control and end up either quitting or looking for a new way to make money online.

Next up is market research.

To succeed online you need to make sure that the training program you decide to invest it offers excellent training in this area. Investing the time to learn how to research a market will provide you the biggest payoff down the road and help you avoid the traps that steal your time.So take a deep breath and spend some time researching to find the right internet business training program.

Look for real testimonials from people that have been through the course and you will save yourself a lot of money and also wasted time.

Free Internet Business and Authority Site Building Coaching!

We are launching our completely free “16 Steps to Success” * program that was met with rave reviews in its debut this spring. It really is free coaching with real meat and no strings attached. And it is better training than provided by most, if not all, $5000+ programs.

It will kick your butt!

This training lasts for 8 weeks and is intensive. It will make you a much better internet marketer and it will show you real ways to profit online. And, I have to mention once more, it really is completely free!

Spots are taken VERY quickly with this training, so be sure to get registered right now and get ready to experience what high-level, professional online business training is like without paying a dime for it.

To learn more, please visit http://www.16StepsToSuccess.com

*16 Steps to Success is based on Jack Humphrey’s personal marketing and authority building tactics. Sam Clark and Jack Humphrey will be training over 2 weeks on everything you’ll need to know about building and growing a solid, reputable, profitable online presence.

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Want Better Copy? Go On A Quest!

August 27, 2008

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

fortin.jpgWriting copy is usually the easiest part of my work. But figuring out what to say is often a whole lot harder than knowing how to say it. That requires a lot of research, creativity and, of course, “sales detective work,” as my friend John Carlton calls it.

But when I know what to write, the question I’m often asked is, “Do you start with the headline, or do you work the headline last?”

Let me share with you a formula I use. First, when I write new copy, I tend to start with the copy itself, then create the headline and headers (some people call them “subheads”).

With existing copy however, it’s the other way around: I start with a better headline (after reading the copy and questionnaire replies from my clients), then the rest. Why? Because…

Sometimes (in fact, a lot of times), my client’s copy is already pretty good. The culprit for a poor response, almost 9 times out of 10 in my estimation, is a poor headline. (And it’s often the one element I test the most, too.)

The headline is the pivotal element in copy upon which the success of your copy will hinge. If people are not interested enough in reader further after reading the headline, they will leave without reading any more, regardless of how good the copy is, how great the product is and how perfect the offer is for their situation.

So I tend to try to find a good hook for the headline.

After a little bit of detective work, this usually comes to me after tinkering with the headline a bit, sometimes writing several of them.

(Or I rewrite it several times until I come up with the one I think will pull best. You’ve probably seen me do this on my critique videos at TheCopyDoctor.com as an example. In it, check out the brief 15-minute video sample where I reconstruct a headline.)

The headers are usually parts of the copy — either pulled out from the copy where they make sense, create curiosity, and force the reader to stop scanning and start reading.

With new copy, I usually start with an outline, but I really don’t write the actual headers. I often start with the concept or idea I want to introduce in specific sections of the letter, but then write copy and use headers at that point, all based on the flow of ideas.

Here’s how I do it. Most of my salesletters focus on 5 core components. What I usually do when I write or rewrite copy is follow this format. It’s my 5-step guide, if you will.

It’s sort of my own take on the AIDA formula. (Well, it actually complements it, as I still follow AIDA.) I’m sure you’ve heard of AIDA (i.e., grab their Attention, arouse their Interest, build their Desire and ask for some kind of Action).

My formula is this: I call it going on a “QUEST.”

  • Qualify
  • Understand
  • Educate
  • Stimulate
  • Transition

It’s like traversing a mountain, so to speak, when you start climbing the mountain on one side, reach the summit, and start climbing back down on the other side.Almost all my salesletters take on this quality.

Here’s what “QUEST” means:

Q = Qualify
Qualify the reader and prepare her for what’s about to be discussed. And it’s also to weed out the non-prospects, tire-kickers, time-wasters, etc.

That’s why it’s good to ask questions at the beginning or set the stage by giving a scenario they can immediately relate to, or talk about how terrible things are with “this” or “that” problem, or how nice it would be to solve “this” or “that” problem.

You also try to denominate who usually has this problem (I often incorporate this into a story), who this solution is for and/or who it is not for. The aim is not only to create awareness, but also and more importantly to qualify the reader or drive home how qualified the reader is for the offer.

This is especially true where there’s a bit of an education involved — where the prospect doesn’t really know (or is not fully aware) there is a problem. The problem may be in the back of their minds, but my job is to bring it to the top.

In fact, this is why the next part is crucial and flows from the first.

Because, the next step is to…

U = Understand
Understand the reader by reaching out to them. You empathize with them. You expand on the problem. You agitate their pain. You not only get the reader to identify themselves with you, but also magnify the problem by making it more real and vivid in their minds. You “add salt on the wounds,” so to speak.

In other words, you share their pain, and tell them how more painful it is either because there is no solution, or because competing or previous solutions are not as good for whatever reasons. It’s where you bring the problem to the top of their minds — and it’s why, once you’ve reached to the top “of the moutain,” it becomes an easy downhill trek afterwards.

You can also use this section to tickle their curiosity about a potential solution, and insert specific benefits other solutions don’t have, but without fully introducing or disclosing “your” solution yet — i.e., a unique selling point, superior “nice-to-have” benefits, something new or different that will be linked with the offer later on, the story behind the product, etc.

(In fact, if the creator of the product used to be in the same situation, I would include a story behind the product based on that fact. It’s also a great place to build credibility and give the reader reasons why they should keep reading. Readers identify themselves with the author and say to themselves, “Hey, I felt the same way!” Or, “I certainly don’t want to go through what she went through!” Etc.)

When you introduce the solution later on, you can tie it in with all of these. It’s like telling the reader: “Wouldn’t it be great, if…” (And later on, “Well, there is a solution that…”)

And that leads to the next step, which is to…

E = Educate
Educate the reader on the fact that there is a solution. Your solution. This is where you expand on the fact that a solution exists, and that your solution is unlike all the others, as well as the reasons why it is different. This is where you introduce the product or service (but not the offer). Usually it’s in the middle of the copy. It’s “the summit of the sales mountain,” if you will.)

Also, it’s a great place to add a lead-capture form, if you didn’t use the forced opt-in process. That is, if people landed immediately on your salesletter organically, without going through a landing page first. (We tested locations, and if you need to add an opt-in form on a salesletter, this seems to be the highest pulling area.)

It’s also a great place to build on and emphasize credibility introduced in the “U” portion of the formula. You should include a lot of proof here, and build on the believability element.

This includes credentializing the author and why should one listen to her. It’s also a great location to talk about the features of your product or service, dispell any myths, and respond to any objections regarding the product or service.

It’s also the location where I add proof elements, case studies and testimonials. In fact, I tend not to add any testimonials until this section. Why? Because testimonials too early tend to scare off people.

Of course, this depends at what stage of the buying process the market is in. If they are vigorously aware of their problem and they’re hurting already, testimonials a little early won’t hurt. But in tests, removing testimonials early in the copy actually increased response in most cases.

Once they’re educated, the next step is to…

S = Stimulate
Stimulate the reader on the offer. This where the offer is made and the value buildup really starts. You list and expand on the benefits. (In “E,” I start to talk about features and describe the product. But in here, I talk benefits, benefits, benefits… And I link them to the features described in “E.”

It’s the place where the offer really starts taking shape. Also, it’s a great location to add value to the offer, such as offering premiums, making guarantees and inserting value boosters, such as adding scarcity and making apples-to-oranges comparisons.

(”Apples to oranges” means to compare the price to the cost of not buying — rather than to the price of some alternative. In other words, it’s comparing the value of your offer not with the value of a similar or competing product but with the value of all possible alternatives, including missing out on the potential benefits, pecuniary losses, value of unique benefits, ultimate costs of not using the product, etc.)

Use this section to link the offer to the rest of the formula. That is, you restate some of the problems mentioned in “Q,” how the solution answers the greater problems talked about in “U,” and how it links to all to the features and benefits described in “E.”

After that, you then…

T = Transition
Transition the reader from prospect to customer. The famous “let’s wrap this up” or “call to action” section. It’s the response device. The close, in other words. This includes the order form, the price, a special offer, the P.S.’s, additional testimonials (especially results-based testimonials), making the reader feel as if they already own the product, etc.

It’s a great place to summarize the offer, and perhaps introduce new points not discussed to this point to spur action, such as adding an as-of-yet undisclosed benefit or bonus — also called “pot sweeteners.”

(I also tend to add a liftnote in this section, usually a linked pop-up window, which says, “Click here if you decided NOT to order today,” and so on. Take a look at how I did it with John Reese’s TrafficSecrets.com, for example.)

Now, I don’t follow this formula precisely as I just explained.

I usually start with QUEST as an outline first, especially in an outline, and then refer back to it later.

Once the outline is made, I expand on each point and “go with the flow” of what I think is best for the offer throughout the salesletter.

I also write header ideas in that outline, too. But first, I expand on the copy, and if needed, I re-arrange ideas around for better flow. And then, I write the headers as I see how they fit in the QUEST formula, all keeping the following in mind:

The header introduces a new piece of information. It’s specific and descriptive. Best of all, it has an inherent benefit — whether it’s of the offer or one in reading what follows. (Usually, it’s the latter.)
It helps to introduce the following section in the copy. In fact, it should read as if the person never read the preceding copy. It somewhat explains it as to not confuse and push people away. (But it doesn’t explain it entirely, as the next point reveals.)

More often then not, it also piques their curiosity in order to force them to stop scanning and go back to the beginning of the copy (as people usually scan and read the headers when they hit a salesletter for the first time).
The third one is the one I use the most.

The header introduces a portion of an idea (like a half-statement), or some kind of “newsworthy” statement that pulls them into the copy.

It’s like using headers as “knots” or “hooks” in rock-climbing rope, so to speak. Why? Because it forces people to stop — and ultimately pulls readers back into the copy (or keeps them reading and clinging throughout the copy).

For example, in the copy for Lou Vukas at RealEstateFortunes.com, I wrote a header that said, “(I tried everything. I felt) Hopeless… Frustrated… Broke… I Said to Myself, ‘There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This’!”

The copy that followed slowly introduces the “wouldn’t it be great” concept, until the next header, which says, “I Found It!” “I Cracked The Code!” “It Hit Me Like A Ton Of Bricks!” And so on.

Finally, don’t force yourself to follow the QUEST formula “to the letter.” Use it as guides to help you in creating the copy and ensuring it has a proper flow.

Just like there are different mountains of different shapes and sizes, there are different markets with different levels of awareness. Therefore, each climb should also be different.

But keep this in mind. Climbing any mountain has 3 common things: the ascent, the summit and the descent. You copy should flow in the same way: pull them in, prove your case and push them to act.

I call these the “3 P’s.” But, that’s for another day…

About Michel Fortin
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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What to do When Your RSS Subscribers Disappear in FeedBurner

August 27, 2008

If you’ve ever noticed a massive drop in your RSS subscribers in FeedBurner, you know what it feels like to “lose” something.

feedburner subscriber count droppedToday my subscriber count, according to FeedBurner, reads around 7000. It is normally in the low 20,000’s. Everyone experiences this with FeedBurner from me to TechCrunch and in between.

Nothing has really been lost, so there’s no need to panic. But for a day you are going to have to look at that RSS subscriber count (along with all your visitors) until FeedBurner updates again within 24 hours.

What Happens When Your Subscriber Count in FeedBurner Drops Like That?

FeedBurner checks all the feed readers it tracks each day, like Google Reader, Bloglines, and BlogRovr. When one of them is unresponsive at the exact moment FeedBurner is checking your subscriber count through any particular service, it moves on and the count doesn’t happen.

I have about 15,000 subscribers from BlogRovr, so my feeling today is that FeedBurner checked in and didn’t get a fast enough reaction from BlogRovr to make the count. So my day is spent with a FeedBurner chicklet (button) that displays a much lower subscriber count than actual.

What You Can Do About It

Nothing. Enjoy your day. Make some great posts. And wake up tomorrow to a new RSS subscriber count, usually, with the number you expect. This stuff happens in the RSS world. Most bloggers know about it and I’ve seen A-Listers can “lose” 100,000-200,000 RSS subscribers at a time.

They’ll come back. In the meantime check out your stats in FeedBurner. A cool thing is how they’ll show a lower subscriber count but your “hits” that day could be way out of whack above your subscriber numbers. That’s because all your subscribers are still subscribed and checking out your feed, regardless of what FeedBurner is saying about your subscriber count.

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Webside Chat with Scott Bradley, NetworkingEffectively.com

August 27, 2008

Scott Bradley is an up and coming fireball on the web. He’s one of those people who make you really wish you could go back in time with the tools and opportunities we have today on the internet and start over.

Scott BradleyHe’s fresh out of college and hit the ground running with internet marketing and networking, landing a job with author Mike Michalowicz and running his own blog which is quickly gaining in popularity.

In this Webside Chat we cover a crucial topic: networking effectively using social media to connect with customers and potential partners.

It’s not what you think, and it’s not what you usually hear people talking about when it comes to social marketing. Scott gets into the qualitative end of social marketing in a way I haven’t heard anyone talk about it to date.

If you’re trying to figure out why your 3000 Facebook friends or your 400 Twitter followers aren’t reacting to you the way you hear others bragging about, this podcast is going to help you immensely.


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Find out more about Scott Bradley:

Blog: Networking Effectively
Book: Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Listen to more of Jack Humphrey’s Webside Chats!

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Break Time for Bloggers

August 26, 2008

I can’t help it. The Onion cracks me up and sometimes I just have to share. Since I know all of you are working feverishly on your next great post, you probably haven’t had time to keep up with the news.

Here’s the latest weather news:


Hurricane Bound For Texas Slowed By Large Land Mass To The South

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Title Writing Contest Opens at Problogger

August 25, 2008

[Insert Killer Title Here]

Here’s a great opportunity for honing your post title writing skills and gaining some traffic at the same time. Possibly even a professional logo design from a top design firm.

Problogger is running a contest this week centered on a simple concept: post titles. Actually the task is deceptively difficult, as we all know. Just look at my piss poor title above!

If you’re up for the challenge, enter by following instructions at Problogger.

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21 Tips to Increase Blog Traffic

August 24, 2008

If you are stuck and don’t know what to do next to increase your blog traffic, this list of hand-picked resources is going to come at the perfect time for you! If you are on track and growing your blog traffic, there’s still going to be some things below you haven’t read or done.

I’ve left out some tips. There are many more. Please feel free to share your favorites with fellow FTR readers below!

1. Commenting: The importance of commenting and engaging on other blogs in your niche cannot be overstated.

Tactics and Resources:

2. MyBlogLog: Join MyBlogLog and then join communities.

Tactics and Resources:

3. Blog Catalog: Join Blog Catalog and participate in threads.

Tactics and Resources:

4. SEO for Bloggers: This is for search engine optimization. Your main keyword should be early in your title and then repeated somewhere within your first paragraph. First sentence preferred. Shorter titles generally are better than long ones.

Tactics and Resources:

5. Feedburner: Convert your feed to Feedburner and make sure to use their badges to build your RSS subscriber base. Feedburner will give you good stats if you upgrade to Pro and will expose some good info on where to put your feed next.

Tactics and Resources:

6. RSS Feed Syndication: Put your RSS feed on all the social profiles you own that allow it. Examples: Facebook, Mashable, TwitterFeed.com, and many others will allow your feed so when you post, you update on multiple sites, not just yours.

Tactics and Resources:

7. Video: Create and syndicate video. Make sure to use good descriptions and titles with your main keywords on all video submissions. Use a syndication service like Traffic Geyser or TubeMogul.

Tactics and Resources:

8. Podcasting: This opens up entirely new channels for you. You get a new RSS feed to promote and you get to insert yourself into Podcast-only directories to find new, targeted listeners who will end up on your blog and subscribed to your main feed.

Tactics and Resources:

9. Trackbacks: Essential in building backlinks and participating in conversations around you. Use TrackBoost to do this properly or you will become lazy and stop doing this important tactic regularly.

Tactics and Resources:

10. Social News: Make sure remind your fans to submit you to the important social news sites like Digg, Propeller, Yahoo Buzz and specialty news sites targeted to your niche (e.g. Sphinn) Use ShareThis and buttons on your posts provided by each of the big social news sites.

Tactics and Resources:

11. Communities: Find communities at Ning.com centered around your niche and make friends, fill outyour profiles carefully and completely, and interact on those sites regularly to pull people to you.

Tactics and Resources:

12. Prize Contests: Massive traffic and subscriber potential here.

Tactics and Resources:

13. Writing contest: Different than above.

Tactics and Resources:

14. Linkbait: Learn what it is and how to write it.

Tactics and Resources:

15. Twitter - Microblogging: Twitter rocks. Find out why and then start using it.

Tactics and Resources:

16. Remote Blogging: Remote blogs on communities and blogging services help.

Tactics and Resources:

17. Ning: Set up your own community attached to your site and encourage your people to join. They will invite hundreds, even thousands of others immediately giving you a huge boost, if you promote it properly.

Tactics and Resources:

18. Networking: Ask questions directly to other bigger bloggers in your niche and try developing relationships with them to get powerful links and mentions on their sites.

Tactics and Resources:

19. Guest posts: Through your networking you should be able to offer some bigger bloggers a guest post proposition. Guest posting piggy backs on their success and readership and can drive huge amounts of regular traffic.

Tactics and Resources:

20. Bookmarking: Yeah it still has purpose. Here are the latest tips on social bookmarking.

Tactics and Resources:

21. Consistency: Blog WELL every day. I don’t care how hard it is. The most successful blogs ALL post every day and post really good content on most days. This is blogging. Get used to it.

Tactics and Resources:

Bonus:

22. Join Social Power Linking: This is where you keep up to date on the latest social / blog marketing tactics. It’s clean, powerful, to-the-point information on a level that other courses and communities cannot touch.

Inspiration: 21 Ways to Increase Blog Traffic, SEOMoz.com

Got a good tip? Add to this list by following the advice in #1 above and commenting below!

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Huge Blog Contest Just Launched

August 23, 2008

I’ve seen some killer blog contests, and this one ranks right up there with the best of them in value. My friend Miguel Alvarez is holding what he calls the “Blog Boost” contest where a huge dollar value in prizes is up for grabs.

I donated some prizes to the pot and after reading about them and all the other killer prizes I am convinced the winners are going to go ga-ga over them.

My part is just a drop in the bucket, but look at what you can win:

1. TrackBoost Software
2. Web2Submitter Software
3. Utility Poster Software
4. Video Utility Poster Software
5. Lifetime membership to Social Power Linking

Other cool prizes: 1 year coaching from Miguel, professional blog setup and design, 11,000 words from the Content Divas, all the Revolution Themes, a professional blog critique, almost 27,000 web media elements from photographs to podcast intros, clip art, fonts and more.

But wait, there’s more! To see the whole prize package and some very interesting ways to earn multiple entries into the contest, check out Miguel’s Blog Boost Contest and get entered!

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