Archive for Building my websites
Create A MySql Database
Posted by: | CommentsCreating MySql databases is one of the most difficult jobs that you’ll ever have to do when you’re working in Internet Marketing.
Every script that uses php will connect to a MySql database – however simple – because it’s the database that stores all your essential data like Paypal details, usernames, passwords and do on.
This WordPress blog uses MySql, my Giveaways do, my membership site does … in fact I reckon I have at least 20-30 MySql databases active across my business as I type!
So this is a skill you really need to master, and that’s why I decided to record this simple video guide.
Save it, download it, refer back to it time and time again … but sooner, or later, you’re going to need to know how to do this.
It’s really easy – you don’t need to understand all the nuts and bolts behind it – it’s just a simple process of learning and repetition.
So check out the video and slides below and good luck creating your very first MySql database 
5 Different Traffic Generation Techniques
Posted by: | CommentsI signed up to Alex Jefferys ‘Marketing With Alex 3.0′ coaching program a few weeks ago, and one of the tasks we’ve been set is to try different techniques for driving more traffic to out blogs.
This is a summary of some of the techniques I have been trying.
Technique 1: Hold a competition
Funny enough, I used to use this technique before I even had an auto responder or a proper web business, so I thought I’d give it another try.
It brings traffic to your site, but not targeted traffic so it’s not the best technique on earth.
I made the prizes specifically related to Internet marketing to knock out as many freebie seekers as possible and added an entry level opt-in offer once competition entries had been completed.
Here’s the competition page.
I used Google Forms to create the competition form here.
This technique is responsible for the number 3 and number 4 best traffic referrals so far (1 and 2 are organic referrals and Google referals so it’s been a good deliverer of readers so far.
I think that if I listed the competition in a more IM oriented area this might do even better for me in future.
Technique 2: Use Giveaways
The new Giveaway Manager 3 script allows upgraded marketers to create an ‘About Me’ section and as The World Cup Giveaway is being held by a friend at the moment, and I got a full upgrade, I decided to try it out.
Basically this funnels Giveaway participants through my blog and Twitter page.
I’ve never tried this technique before and when I checked out Google Analytics, this is actually my 6th best source of referrals.
Nothing earth shattering you understand, but certainly worth the effort, and at least this is highly targeted traffic, the referrals coming via a site which caters specifically for the IM niche.
Technique 3: Using ads in Giveaways
I thought I’d give this one a try to see if it brings in any decent business, and the jury is still out on this one.
I haven’t been upgrading in a lot of Ultimate JV Giveaway hosted events recently because the quality has been fairly poor.
My promo is the one that says ‘Want to host a Giveaway?’
I’m delighted that David Walker and Paul Wilson have just launched their World Cup event as I’ve upgraded in this one and got access to text ads in what will be a busy event if David’s last one is anything to go by
So, a promising strategy for driving traffic, but I’ll give it a proper whirl now David’s event has launched and see how it goes before Alex’s traffic challenge comes to a conclusion.
Technique 4: Forum footers
I have been going round any forums that I’m active in, making sure that my profile links clearly to my blog, especially in the footer text.
My Google Analytics stats tell me that this has been a particularly successful technique in the Alex Jeffreys forum, but also elsewhere such as JVNotifyPro where I am also quite active as a poster.
I think this is one of those traffic techniques that ‘part of the furniture’, it creates a steady ‘drip-drip-drip’ of traffic, rather than any great surge.
Incidentally, blog commenting is also working well for me, I’m getting a lot of clicks in from other blogs these days.
Technique 5: Driving traffic from my list
I’m lucky to have a list of over 4000 subscribers built up in Giveaway events, so I am experimenting with new techniques to engage better and offer more value.
I have recently been asking my subscribers to tell me what content they want to receive from me and this has been my most commented on blog post so far.
The post was called ‘What information do you want?‘ and as well as driving subscribers to my blog, it is also giving me invaluable data for either future emails or a ‘subscribers only’ report.
I have tried a similar thing with my recent blog post ‘How to hold your own Giveaway event‘ which has also been doing okay for comments, even though this is a more ‘Evergreen’ post ie it has a longer shelf life.
And on that subject, the blog post that generates the most organic traffic is one which I wrote specifically because I saw that other people, as well as me, were searching a for a solution to this problem and not finding one.
‘How to process GoToWebinar video‘ is proving to be a popular post and is my 5th most popular post now, with no promotion, just Google searches bringing the page back for specific searches
Conclusions
The best deliverer of traffic using these ‘alternative’ techniques is running a competition, but it’s not targeted traffic, so I need to do better there.
I think I’d say that all of these techniques accumulate to bring in steady traffic, so I wouldn’t discount any of them, they all play their small part in keeping the blog actives and regularly visited.
Please leave a comment below to tell me which traffic techniques have worked well – or failed – for you.
This page was part of a competition to win a free mailing to my list.
I selected a comment at random from those submitted by 8pm GMT on Thursday 3rd June 2010 and you can see the selection process in the short video below.
Julie Fletcher won the free mailing to my entire list, congratulations Julie!
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
I just made a promo video on Animoto.com
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my Internet marketing friends sent me a video she’d made on Animoto.com earlier this week, so I thought I’d give it a try.
I’m currently experimenting with new ways of driving traffic to this blog and I’ll be writing a detailed post on the techniques I’ve used very soon.
In the meantime, here’s just one of the traffic generation techniques I’m trying.
This video has been posted on my YouTube channel, on Google Buzz and my Twitter page and on my Facebook page.
Anyone else have feelings about this?
Chris Freville’s Mastermind Group
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Chris Freville's Mastermind group
Monday 11th May
I’m in Birmingham at the moment writing this in my hotel room, the day before the second Chris Freville Mastermind session (see above!)
I’ve been busting a gut to hit this deadline as I needed to have my product launch content ready for today.
If anyone ever thought internet marketing was easy, let me tell you that I’ve put hours of my life into this launch … and it’s still some time away!
At the time of writing, 12 minutes past midnight, I’ve had enough of it … I’ve been working on it since early this morning, including on the train on the way down.
And I’m expecting to have it all pulled to pieces in the feedback session tomorrow!
But you know what?
However fed up I am of working on it, I’ve squeezed everything I know and everything I’ve learned into this product.
It’s packed to the brim with practical tips, great information and fabulous resources.
So I’m pleased to get a break for two days while I’m taking part in the Mastermind Group but I’ll be back at my desk on Thursday morning finishing off the last pages of the e-book.
I’m hoping to get a launch schedule over the next two days, I’ll let you know!
Wednesday 12th May
Phew, what a couple of days!
We’re all sworn to secrecy on the Mastermind Group so I can’t give you any details of the exciting projects that we discussed, but let me tell you this … there are some HOT products in development at the moment.
If I revealed any more they’d take me away in the night and you’d never hear from me ever again
A couple of things I can tell you … we discussed in great detail the processes involved in a successful product launch.
Wow, and you thought Rubik’s cube was complicated!
We also chatted about the day of an internet marketer and how our time should be best spent … the headlines?
Stop checking your emails
Stop checking Facebook and Twitter
Take action!
I bet that applies to most of us, it certainly applies to me.
Seriously though, if you can hook up with a Mastermind group or coaching program, I really recommend it.
It’s great to discuss your ideas and plans in complete confidence with a group of like minded people.
Oh, and we discussed my own project launch … but more about that soon
Diary of an internet marketer 2004-present
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve just completed an exercise in preparation for Chris Freville’s Mastermind Group next week, and although I can’t discuss much of what goes on there, I can reveal this fascinating information.
Chris has asked us to list the software and services that we have purchased in our Internet Marketing careers since we began, and mine shows a pattern and development which I hadn’t noticed before.
This is a fascinating picture of how my internet marketing has built over the years and begun to accelerate at a rapid pace.
Here are the key points:
- Most of what I bought as software I still use regularly and like
- If I wasted any money it was with web directory listings, Facebook, Google and Microsoft ads and ‘submit to search engine’ services. I had to spend that money to assess the value of those services … you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs
- I have probably ‘wasted’ no more than £500 in total on services which probably didn’t bring much benefit to me … that’s not bad for someone who started building websites with a modest aim of making some money – not necessarily a lot!) in 2004
- I really started to spend money in October 2008 as I began to encounter Internet Marketing for the first time.
- That spending has accelerated sharply since September 2009 when I first discovered Giveaways
- In 2010, that spending has increased once again as I am now paying established marketers for personal coaching.
- I began making proper money on the internet in September 2009, and as my success has increased, so has my spending. You can clearly see each time I ‘upscale’ my business.
- Coaching costs are censored … in case my wife spots them
So here it is, an Internet Marketing career charted step-by-step by my expenditure along the way … where would you say you are now?
2004: The beginning
2004: Dreamweaver & Photoshop - I still use both of these most days
2004-Sept 2007
Lots of domain names + hosting with T35/Nativespace
Sept 2007: Namesco submit to search engines tool … multiple sites, waste of money!
Lots of ‘For Dummies’ guides purchased, mainly for my blog posts
June 2008: Php forms software, great purchase, still use it
August 2008: MillionDollarPixel script … great scripts, used it twice, still in use, no business!
September 2008: Wordtracker (didn’t like it!)
September 2008: SoftBizAuctions online shop script … fine, but decided against it
First big purchase!
October 12th 2008: Discovered Site Build It! £178.79 … still use it. Like it very much for content sites, but won’t be my breakthrough. I’d consider it again if I had success in a particular niche. This site was the first site to start earning me money, and it still does.
Dec 2008: Easy Voip Recorder software … still use it
Feb 2009: CoverActionPro Photoshop … $97.00 … still use it
Feb 2009: Web directory submissions … expensive and a waste of money!
March 2008: Start experimenting with Facebook & Google ads … wasted money, a potential money pit. Take care!
April 2009: Widgetbox Pro upgrade … still use it
June 2009: Start to buy e-books, discover Clickbank
June 2009: Sean Lowery Graphics package
June 2009: Viral PDF & PDF locker – great purchases, use them regularly
July 2009: Clickbank Code … £56.44, great package, very useful, but Pay-Per-Click frightened me off!
July 2009: Wavepad sound editor … £37.10, still use it, don’t like Audacity
July 2009: Move to Heart Internet, unlimited everything hosting, £35 per month
July 4th 2009 – My first Chris Freville purchase! Dominating Niches
IDevAffiliate software … £62.48 … like it, haven’t used it because I prefer automated systems, it’s very good but I suspect I’ll go for something more scalable like Nanocaster now.
August 2009: Camtasia £260.96 … love it, still use it!
August 2009: Virtual Smart Agent £60 … love it, will continue to use it!
Proper Internet Marketing begins
August 15th 2009: AWeber subscription begins
August 19th 2009: Automated List Builder … 2nd Chris Freville purchase!
August 2009: Power Link Generator £42, still use it very regularly
August 2009: ViralTweets £35.65, still use it and like it
September 1st 2009 … my first Giveaway!
September 2009: Viral Ebook Explosion £22.82 Still use it and love it
September 14th 2009: Ultimate JV Giveaway Script £85.40 … getting great use from it
September 2009: Your membership website software £29.99 … use it, it’s fine, not really resilient enough
September 2009: Instant Bonus Pahe membership £48.57 … use it regularly and love it
October 2nd 2009: Third Chris Freville purchase, Clickbank Inner Circle
>>> December 2009 … lots of Giveaway expenditure
Start my own Giveaways
January 2010: Easy Member Pro £60, looking for a more resilient membership site
January 2010: Hostgator hosting (bought primarily for training purposes)
January 2010: Humyo back-up … bought for protecting all my valuable content!
Coaching begins
February 4th 2010: Mastermind group payment £Censored
February 2010: £150 Lee McIntrye training event
February 2010: GoToWebinar service $99 monthly
AdSwaps begin
February 2010: Safe Swaps subscription £24 per month
February 2010: £Censored Lee McIntyre personal coaching package
February 2010: £Censored Steven Essa personal coaching package
The future?
I’m convinced that coaching packages are the way to go … watch this space
