Outsourcing, Freelancing, and the Inability to Write

Drought Conditions!

In a recent article entitled The Entrepreneurial Trilogy: Tweets, Texts, and the Lost Art of Writing, I discussed a very real problem we have in this country, and across the globe, with writers…or lack thereof.

Quite simply, there are too few freelance writers with the ability to write well and deliver quality products (i.e., articles, blog posts, sales letters, etc) on a regular basis!

When it comes to finding writers who not only write well but conversationally, and are able to deliver a quality product that I or anyone else would put their name on?

There is a real shortage.

In the article mentioned above, The Entrepreneurial Trilogy: Tweets, Texts, and the Lost Art of Writing, I talk about this problem; and, how so many freelance writers seem unable to write anything that even remotely approaches the kind of end product required of a professional, freelance writer.

I have attempted to outsource writing assignments on several occassions and have simply been unable to find anyone who measures up…and I am not alone!

So, I thought I would write an article to suggest that people who would like to make money online begin as freelance writers!

Yes, there is money to be made online as a writer. And yes, there are certain unscrupulous Internet marketers who will try to sell you a worthless ebook, and perhaps a worthless info product to go along with it.

However, all that is necessary to begin as a freelance writer is the desire to do so and some ability.

That’s it!

It really is as simple as that.

Providing, you know where to go online to find the businesses that need writers; and, are hiring. Additionally, you need to know the steps required, the steps that employers looking for writers expect you to take, and the answers you need to provide, in order to get to the front of the line.

So, I thought I would explain the steps here.

Why?

Because there is money to be made, good money, writing articles online; and, I know when I started out I didn’t have a clue and spent a lot of time, and lost a ton of money, writing articles for next to nothing when I could have been making a decent living.

Interestingly, the freelancer sites that are well known for being Internet marketing’s version of a chop shop for articles are terrible for finding high paying writing jobs. However, they offer a wonderful education.

Often and education is in what not to do and where not to go to secure employment…in this case writing gigs.

It is probably best if I do this is steps, so let’s get started.

How to Make Money Online as a Writer

1. Go to GoDaddy and purchase a domain name. Make sure you have copywriting or freelance writing in the domain name…or some variation.
2. Then go to HostGator and set up a hosting account. The best program is the “Baby Plan” for hosting. The Baby Plan is a middle of the road hosting program and will only cost you $7.95 per month. Very inexpensive and HostGator has the best service and support…period!
3. Once you have purchased the domain name and the hosting, all you have to do it walk through the set up process and you will be up and running in a few minutes. I will make a short video on how to do that and you will find it here in the next day or so.
4. OR you can set up free blog at WordPress.com and write a short bio about yourself and put it on your About page. Just be careful not to run your business from WordPress.com because you will find your account banned, quickly! While they are quite arbitrary in enforcing their TOS (terms of service), you don’t want to take a chance…especially with a name that is important to you. You will not get it back! So, take care and set up the blog as a demonstration site only. Once you are able to set up your own WordPress.org blog through HostGator? Do so! And then, you won’t have to worry about getting the rug pulled out from under your feet.

• The bio’s should contain everything an outsourcing employer will be looking for, not only so they can read it here but so you can copy and paste it as you begin to set up your online presence (your Internet image) across the Internet and at various outsourcing sites:
• Name – Businesses want to know who they are dealing with, period. So, don’t use a cutesy screen name, use your real name of the pen name you use and the use it consistently but tell your prospective employer it is a pen name and give them your real name.
• Country – This is very important for many employers who want the jargon, the spelling of certain words, and the grammar to match a given locale.
• Experience – I will get to experience below, so don’t worry if you don’t have any. But if you do have experience? Don’t be modest!
• Contact information – Some sites will allow you to post this and others will not so include it and you can cut it if you want. The more up front and the more you divulge, the more comfortable your prospective employer will feel.
• Education – Make sure you include how your edication pertains to writing; and, why it makes you a good candidate. Again, don’t be bashful and don’t leave anything out. If you were your high school yearbook’s reporter or editor? Put it in! Even if it was 30 years ago!
• Availability – Hiring writers is a pain in the #ss! Every outsourcer is looking for the writer who will deliver a quality product on task and on time. If you can write 2000 words a day, that’s 4 500 word articles, then say so…but you better be able to. If you can only deliver 1000 words a day but you can do it consistently? Say so! Most outsourcers are looking for honesty and a long term relationship so they don’t have to continually go back to the well every time they need a 500 word article written. Define how much work you can handle, how often; and, be precise. If you want to work 7 days per week, say so. If you can only work 4 or 5 days per week, say that. Just be honest, realistic, and straight-forward in your quote and during the selection process and you have a good chance of getting the job.
• Profile Description – Set up a short 75 character slogan and a short title. Then, create two descriptions. One description should be 500 words and the other 1000 words. Both should be matter of fact and perfect. The descriptions will often be the second thing most outsourcing employers look at, right after the bid…so make it good.

Once you have the About page built, write a couple of 400-600 page articles on something you know well and post them on the home page. Make sure the articles are about something your prospective employers may be interested in. Just a couple will get your started. You can add to it over time and I will explain how later.

1. Make sure the samples are perfect!
2. Read the sample articles out loud after you complete them. If they don’t flow? Meaning, if they don’t sound like you do when you are having a conversation, make the necessary changes.
3. Use spell check and grammar check. Also, be sure to use simple sentence structure, nothing complex. Remember: K*I*S*S!

Now you are ready to set up your memberships at the various outsourcing sites. Some are better than others. I will talk about each and the advantages and disadvantages.

Guru.com – This is a good one for writers because the outsourcing employers pay a bit more to start; and, will pay a lot more for quality work once you prove yourself. I have had experience with writers I consider sub-par and they are still making a great deal of money writing articles. So, regardless of what level you are currently at, as far as your writing ability goes, you can make a decent living writing articles for Guru employers. Significantly, if you work at it and ply your craft daily, your writing will improve and the demand for your services will increase.

• Note: Set up several profiles for the subjects and areas you feel comfortable writing about or for. That is one of many reasons why you want to set up all of the initial profile information on your About page first. Otherwise you will be doing it one profile at a time. Why not have it all on one page that you can copy from and direct people to. You may end up with writing gigs solely as a result of the information on your About page…so do it!

GetaCoder.com – As the name implies, this site is thought of as a technical outsourcing site. However, outsourcing employers do look for freelance writers here and usually pay better than some of the Internet marketing chop shops pay. There are two levels and both will get you work. If you can afford it? The premium membership is the way to go. However, it is not necessary right off the bat. If you find you want to upgrade later? Go ahead and do so. If you have the extra money now? It is one I invested in because it does make you stand out a bit more and lets the outsourcing employers know you are a solid business entity and not just another name. Either way, this site is a must.

Scriptlance.com – Scriptlance is still one of the better outsourcing/guru sites for freelance writers. You will be competing with writers from developing nations, so the fees may not be as good right off the bat. You are going to run into that sort of cut-throat competition from the Internet marketing article and SEO chop shops in India and the Philippines here and on other outsourcing sites. However, stick to your guns, remain professional, and wait for those employers waiting for writers from the USA, the UK, Australia…or wherever it is you are from. You will find work!

• Note: Some employers just don’t care about quality. That kind of outsourcer will always pay bargain basement prices…so don’t concern yourself with them. You are interested in the few gigs that will pay you a little bit at first but offer the promise of bigger paychecks and a stedy income.

oDesk.com – oDesk can also be quite a nice resource and should be developed. oDesk does have a number of tests but if you are competent in English? You should sail right through them. You can also select to compete for work in other areas, under different categories. It is totally up to you but if you are going to do it? Do it right and set it up the first time! If it takes you the better part of a day to set all of this up? You can be working by tomorrow if you do it right.

• Note: Make sure you have set up the profile as stated above, it will make set up for this site a breeze.

Elance.com – Elance, like oDesk, requires a bit more of a time commitment to set up…as they also require a skills test. However, like oDesk, it is worth the little time it takes to set it up right. The more difficult it is to get into some of these programs, the more of a premium you can charge. This is not always the case. But remember, you are looking for long term relationships.

GetaFreelancer.com – GetaFreelancer can seem like what I referred to earlier as an Internet Marketing chop shop. However, you have to keep in mind that, while you are competing against freelancers from all over the world, some outsourcers are looking for quality writers they can count on long term…and that just may be you! However, you have to start somewhere and, if you need money right away, and have the time to spare, you can build up your portfolio and get some experience writing at a faster pace and for SEO. So, what do you have to lose? You can bid on better paying jobs while you are writing, gaining experience, and getting paid.

All in all, this is a process!

There are two more things we need to cover before we wrap this up.

The first thing we need to cover is the review. Reviews can make or break you efforts! So, make sure you work hard to get good reviews. Once you have a few decent reviews, you can ask for more money; and, you will certainly get more work. However, you must be smart about it and develop solid relationships with the employers you write for so they give you good marks.

Some things you need to do in order to get a good review:

1. Maintain constant contact with the employer. This is crucial! Most of the employers you deal with have been outsourcing for some time, and many have have hired writers who have simply disappeared once hired, never to be heard from again. When you are contracted to write for an outsourcing employer, make sure the contact information is correct. Additionally, clearly define when you are to contact the employer. Please, be obsessive about this because not being able to get in touch with a writer is the surest way to a bad review…or fired!
2. Make sure the terms of the contract are clearly defined…and then exceed them! I am not talking about writing 800 word articles if the employer asks for 500 words. In most cases, they don’t want that anyway. But you should make a point to finish the job early and DO NOT submit it until it is perfect. Check it, then let it sit for a few hours (24-48 hours if you have the time), and then check it again. Run it through a couple of different spell-checkers to make sure nothing is missed and use a grammar checker.
3. Note: The best proofreader in the world will miss something occasionally, particularly if the proofreader is also the author. However, you must be perfect. So, check amd recheck. Ultimately, the best proofreading method I have ever found is to actually read the article out loud, to someone else. If there are mistakes, they will surface and if it fails to flow…the person listening to it will tell you.
4. Remember, the employer is a person, so treat them with courtesy and respect and they will respond in kind. It will pay off when the review is due.
5. Additionally, remember that the outsourcing employer is also a business person and will usually have their own deadlines and issues to deal with…so they don’t want to hear about your problems. DO NOT make excuses! They do not care about your sick grandmother or your brother in the hospital or whatever. They have heard every excuse you can think of, so don’t make them! Your employer wants the job done, one time and to specifications.
6. Turn it in early, turn it in as close to perfect as humanly possible, and make sure you give your employer a good review. Remember the old reciprocity thing? It is tough to give someone an average review, or worse, if they have just written about what a great person you are to work for. So, even if you have to bite the side of your lip…be kind. It will pay off!

Two, you are going to have to write for less than you are worth, at least at first!

No matter how good you are, if you don’t have a track record? You have got to prove yourself. Additionally, one review here and another there does not equal three or four at the same freelancing site. Consequently, if you find you are getting jobs on a regular basis at one of the above mentioned outsourcing sites? Stick with them and focus on building up that bank of reviews.

Again, it will pay off!

Finally, once you have proven yourself and have a few decent reviews and maybe one or two repeat clients, it is time to begin to spread your wings and grow your business.

But for now, get started by building a solid base and a good rappore with a couple of outsourcers who are providing steady work!

Then, once you have something of a review bank and a clientèle, it is time to begin upping your price and improving your online image.

However! First things first!

Get started with the steps outlined above and let me know if you run into any snags. I will do what I can to answer your questions and provide you with some guidance.

Thank you for taking the time to go through this. Please, leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004
Skype: johnzajaros1

The Internet Marketing One-Two Punch

Positioning and Differentiation are the one-two punch, the two halves a single whole!

Positioning - As applied to marketing, whether Internet marketing, inbound marketing, or outbound marketing, positioning is the process by which all marketers attempt to create an identity and image in the minds of their target audience or market for a particular idea, product, brand, business, or organization. Positioning has to do with defining the target market in which the brand or product will compete and who the target audience will be.

Differentiation - Differentiation is the other half of what many consider the ultimate formula for success in business, together the linchpin, at least according to many of the greatest business minds of the last 100 years. And yes, it applies to Internet marketing, online business generally, and inbound marketing. In terms of business development, differentiation sets you, your firm, and the businesses you assist, your clients, apart for the herd. Differentiation has to do with distinguishing ourselves and our businesses from whomever or whatever we may be compared to on a day-to-day basis.

For a more in depth discussion of positioning and differentiation, I suggest  Google Knols.

For an example of Positioning and Differentiation, I recommend In Memory of Randy Pausch: A Lesson in Positioning and Differentiation!

John Zajaros

From: Lee Milteer’s Untamed Success Newsletter

Intuition and Prosperity Part 1

June 1, 2010

Greetings John,

I just spent four days on a short sabbatical from work and taking care of others. I spent my time resting, meditating, reading spiritual books, and journaling. I needed a break from outside influences to recharge and re-center myself. I didn’t go anywhere; I just cut off the TV, cell phone, and computer so I could listen to my inner wisdom, what we call intuition. I had found myself caught up in the drama of life and to be honest, I needed to take this time to rest, rethink my priorities, and listen to my inner voice. When I listen to my inner voice, it IS ALWAYS RIGHT!

For the next few weeks our focus will be on developing and using our inner wisdom. I hope you will enjoy the ride and maybe even recommend it to others you know and love who have stopped listening to their intuition. Let’s face it: Intuition only thrives when you listen to it.

The better we use our intuition, the more our choices in business and life will reward us. Some of the most intelligent people in history have relied on their inner knowledge to achieve great success, such as Albert Einstein, who said: “The mind can only proceed so far upon what it knows, and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a leap — call it intuition or what you will — and comes out on a higher plane of knowledge.”

If you want to reduce your stress and be more successful, you must make efforts to listen to the inner voice. Some call it your heart, Sixth sense, Instinct, or gut feelings. You have natural abilities that are built into your system to know danger and you can also use these abilities to make better choices and know when to trust someone and when not to trust.

Intuition is a part of you that you were born with but up until now, have not been encouraged or rewarded for using. Times are changing and you will need the ability of Intuition to thrive! I personally call the use of Intuition THE NEW COMMON SENSE. My goal in this Intuition Series is to remind you of the importance of paying attention to your intuitive abilities when making decisions about your business or personal life. I want to remind you to rely on that internal part of yourself, that voice inside that tells you when things feel right or wrong.

Life has accelerated to the point where we just don’t have TIME for the way we used to communicate and do business. We have to step up to the plate now and adapt to the New Economy we are living in, and we have to do it FAST.

We are now living in an unpredictable world because of the hidden layers in the illusions of reality. People have lost their ability to discern who is telling the truth or not. We are living in an era of change. If you study history, which I do, you will see we are in a time right now that has a lot in common with the 1970’s. There is a recession, and there’s scandal after scandal. The public is being constantly lied to and being shown things by the negative news media that makes them feel like they are completely out of control. As a society, we have been conned, lied to, manipulated, and sold concepts that simply are not true. Some have even lost their savings and way of life. It is clear that the old ways of simply trusting people who may be morally bankrupt and without ethics with our lives and money is not working. The person you should be trusting is YOU and YOUR inner wisdom before anyone or anything else.

Many people are waking up to the fact that there is a great limitation in using logic, rationality, and scientific methods as the sole means of guiding their lives. Not to mention we’ve been spoon fed bad advice by money advisors, banks, and Corporate and government leaders! People are disappointed with the betrayal of the people they trusted who have let them down, killed their dreams, and jeopardized their futures. Sadly, integrity and ethics have not been valued. Greed has taken over many people in our reality and honest people are paying the price. We must now stop being victims to people who have no integrity and pay attention to the inner part of ourselves that knows truth when we hear or see it. We have to start paying attention to how we feel we get information to discern if it is true and good for us. We must stop allowing others to take advantage of us by misinformation that serves their agenda and not our highest and best good. Intuition is one of the best tools you can use right now to discern truth and take back your power to make decisions that serve your needs.

Right now, it is urgent for you to be willing to become skilled in new ways of thinking in order to navigate the shifting currents of reality. One of the ways we can do that is to get back to our real internal power and use our instincts to know right from wrong, good from bad, and truth from lies.

I am most proud to share with you that after many months of working on it, we have completed my Brand New Program, Intuition: The New Common Sense, your guide to developing and using your inner wisdom to achieve success. With simple and proven exercises to kick start your intuitive abilities, you’ll gain confidence and awareness to manifest more profitable results in your business and life. This system is a must-have for anyone who wants to move past traditional thinking to reduce stress, be more aware, and create more success and profits.

Love and Light,

Lee Milteer

Lee Milteer is an internationally known Performance & Productivity Coach, TV Personality, and Speaker who has counseled and trained over a million people throughout her career. Lee is the founder of the Millionaire Smarts® Coaching Program and is also a best-selling author of educational resources like Success is An Inside Job and Overcoming Unproductive Behaviors. Find out more and sign up for no-cost success resources at www.milteer.com.

I get PLR articles every day from one source or another, most are never opened!

Of the ones I have opened, not one has been useful in its entirety. At best, I will get an idea for an article or two, like this one. The article you are reading is actually the result of skimming through an article entitled “How to Get Your Ex Back.” Yup! I received the PLR article as an email attachment today. The article was so awful, it gave me an idea for at least two more articles! The mind is a mysterious mechanism, isn’t it?

I often wonder, as I skim through the articles I do open, “Who writes this stuff?” And, more to the point, “Who reads this stuff?” Keep in mind when I use the word “stuff,” I am being very generous. PLR has always intrigued me because it caters to, and preys upon, individuals looking for a shortcut, an easy way to generate traffic, to get noticed, and, ultimately, to make a buck. Sadly, many just don’t know any better, being sold a bill-of-goods by a savvy info marketer.

Interestingly, you can find PLR articles, PLR videos, PLR autoresponder series, PLR eBooks, and PLR anything else you can think of almost anywhere. I am not even going to get into MRR, I will only confuse you! OK, I’ve gotten a little carried away here, you can find PLR almost anywhere. The “stuff” (let’s agree to be nice) is certainly available for just about any and every niche imaginable.

Look at PLR this way, if someone is attempting to offer blog posts, articles, videos, eBooks, or whatever online? If an individual is engaging in Internet marketing, and particularly info marketing? Then someone is creating and selling the rights to often hurriedly created “stuff.”

Incredibly, people are making money on this “stuff,” right?

I mean, someone has to be making a lot of money on this “stuff,” right? Yhey have to be, because PLR is a very big industry! The part I don’t get, the part that just amazes me, is that everyone seems to recognize just how bad, and just how useless, most of this “stuff” is.

And they still buy it!

For example, let’s use PLR articles. All you have to do is go to one of the less reputable “guru” sites, some refer to them as “freelancer” sites, and you will find a plethora of individuals willing to crank out “stuff” at a buck a crack. That’s right! You can get a human being to spend their time writing articles for between 50 cents (for a rewrite, sometimes for an “original” article) and one dollar (for “originals”), all day long. They will do anything for the business and the articles reflect their price tag…they are generally worthless.

Some of the articles generated by these article farms are so bad they cannot be salvaged, even with extensive editing. Others are so atrocious, the spinning software creates such a mess the articles seemingly go from English to Klingon right before your eyes. Amazingly, I don’t think Worf would be able to “decode” them!

“Nack luj tga nuf  tght!”

“Useless,” like “stuff,” is being kind.

So, what’s the answer? How does one go from “newbie” (I hate labels) to accomplished writer, a “guru” (another label) or expert (better) if you will, able to create and submit quality material? How does a budding Internet marketer create material both consumable and, perhaps, saleable?

Interestingly, creating material for blogs, article submission, video sharing, or other info marketing purposes is not as difficult as it initially seems. Those intimidated by the idea and the process can and do get started every day and do quite well. You can too!

First, for those who want to create usable blog posts and articles, a handheld voice recorder and speech recongition software is a fantastic way of transferring ideas to your computer and then to blog or article form. Amazingly, some of the newest software is so sophisticated you can literally speak into a small hand-held device, plug it into your computer when finished or whenever you have time, turn it on, and the result will spill out onto the page, or the monitor screen. Then, all you have to do is edit accordingly. Do this and you will have conversational blog posts and articles. You can do the same thing over a period of days and create an eBook. Once you get the hang of it, you will never be caught without your recording device, as ideas will flow and article creation will become an easy and ongoing process.

Second, you can invest in a FlipMino HD or similar video camera and just start experimenting. Before long you will have it down to a science and, like the hand-held recorder, you will never be without it. Combine the Flip with JingPro and Screencast, created by TechSmith, or, for those who have a bit more to invest, Snagit and Camtasia, also created by TechSmith, and you are in the video production and video marketing business in a manner of days. In fact, the Flip, Jing, and Screencast software are so easy to use, you will be up and running in a few minutes. Once you get comfortable with the camera and the software, you will wonder what took you so long.

Finally, by taking the money you waste on “useless” and unusable “stuff,” investing it in equipment and software, you will be producing high quality content, both written and video, in no time at all, content that will go viral instead of putting you and your blog or social media platform on Google’s “S” list…and I don’t mean “S”uperior list!

PLR is almost always duplicate content and, while there is an argument raging about penalties and slaps, there can be little doubt that inferior material offered by every Tom, Dick, and PLR buyer will not be looked upon favorably by the search engine gods (i.e., Google, Yahoo, and Bing).

Create quality content? Get found!

Offer duplicate content? Get gone!

It is up to you!

The cost in terms of time and money is so small to do it right when compared to the cost of doing it wrong. The savings by doing it “on the cheap” will cost you in ways you cannot begin to imagine but will definitely feel in your pocketbook or wallet. For long-term success, go for original, quality content and forget the Klingon stuff…it doesn’t translate well anyway. Go original…go viral! Again, it’s up to you!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)

Article Marketing is the Key To Successful Internet Marketing

If you are serious about making money online, article marketing is the key to your success. All you have to do is review the stories of individuals who have made it big online and, almost to a man (or woman), they have used article marketing as a long term strategy. Article marketing is currently viewed by many as the “poor step child” to video; and yet, when it comes to traffic generation, gaining links to your website, enhancing credibility, and gaining a foothold across the Internet virally, article marketing is hard to beat!

The challenge becomes developing articles that offer quality content to your readers. Unfortunately, there are a lot of PLR articles out there (read: garbage) and a vast number of freelancers calling themselves authors (read: No business near a keyboard!). As a result, the individual struggling to offer quality articles on a regular basis, is often discouraged because it can be difficult to be heard above the noise.

However, if you are consistent, sticking with it over the long haul, article marketing, generally, and article writing, specifically, pays off!

Like anything else in life, there is a learning curve to article marketing. Some of the articles, and certainly many of the videos I created when I first started online are absolutely atrocious! Particularly the videos…wow! The key is to stick with it, learn your niche or niches, understand not only your product but those of your competitors, and become a student of marketing, online and offline. In other words, become a student of what makes people tick, what moves them to action, and what prompts them to act.

Or read!

Keep in mind there are literally millions of competing writers and marketers competing for your readers’ attention. If you do not create something worth consuming, whether in the form of an article, a video, or even an audio you will lose them fast. As Malcolm Gladwell notes, you have seconds, a Blink and they are gone. Seth Godin talks about Purple Cows! Whatever you create, it had better be good enough to capture the imagination of your tribe, or the tribe you are hoping to lead, and hold it…or they are gone forever!

FOREVER!

If they don’t find something interesting, and fast, they are not coming back. If you don’t give them a reason to stick around and return, if your content isn’t special, if it isn’t worth their attention, and once again you have seconds, or less, you lose!

The real secret to article marketing success is, you guessed it, article writing. Sadly, most people hate to write. And, most people, because they hate to write, don’t practice enough to become good at it. Think back in your own life. How of the many of the things you now find pleasurable did you hate when you started doing them? I will bet there are many.

Remember when you were a little kid and your mom and dad wanted you to go somewhere and you fought them tooth and nail?

What happened?

When you got there you loved it, right? Had the time of your life!

Well, the same is true of almost anything and everything we do enough to get good at…we begin to enjoy it. The nice part about writing, particularly online, is that as you become good at it, and as you find a way to express yourself well, you get paid real money to do it, either directly as a quality freelance writer (and they are rare), or as an expert in your niche, offering your own products and/or services online. In either instance, you cultivate a strength not many have and you convert it into dollars, as well as real satisfaction.

Interestingly, you do not need to be a Tolstoy or an  Hemingway to make money at article marketing. As a matter of fact, if you write War and Peace style, meaning you go on forever, unless you are the second coming of Stephen King, you are not going to be read, at least not for long. Article writing is about either offering a piece of advice, offering a bit of information in a new way, or telling a story. Find a new way to offer a resource, package an idea in a different way, and you are on your way!

Finally, people love stories, and people love to be engaged by an interesting story that makes sense and takes them to a place they already want to go. If you can combine story telling and offering useful information?

You have hit a home run!

Most Internet marketers never make a dime, it’s a fact!

The reason?

People will not step out of their comfort zone. If you are serious about making money online, you are going to have to step out of your comfort zone long enough to learn how to write, or at least long enough to learn your niche and then accept the fact that you are going to have to spend a lot of money to find someone to write for you, because good writers cost real money!

The alternative?

Write often and write about what you know. If you don’t know your niche well enough yet, you will learn as you perfect your craft. And, when you have, you will be able to write with the best of them. Or, you will be making enough money that you can afford to pay the best of them to write for you.

Either way, you win!

Article marketing, regardless of how it ultimately ends up, will be a win-win for you. Try it for 30 days, then for another 30 days, and then for another. By the time you get through 90 days of writing just one article a day you will be on your way to perfecting your craft and making real money as an Internet marketer; and, as an article marketing guru!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com

PS, If you really want to know about article marketing? I suggest you check out anything Jeff Herring offers! Jeff is not only self-made when it comes to his Internet marketing success, he has done it almost exclusively as The Article Marketing Guy! And he deserves the moniker!

Article Marketing And Internet Marketing Go Hand In Hand

Internet marketing and article marketing are not the same thing, because internet marketing is a broad concept with many smaller concepts beneath it, and article marketing is one of those smaller facets of internet marketing. The reason why these two concepts go hang in hand is because no internet marketing campaign is complete without some form of article marketing. Internet marketing and article marketing go hand in hand because using articles to market yourself, your website or your affiliate products is absolutely vital in creating a complete internet marketing solution.

There are numerous different types of internet marketing that you can take advantage of to get their name out there. However, most forms of internet marketing have costs of some sort, because advertising isn’t free. That is, advertising isn’t free unless you are advertising through article marketing. This unique form of marketing was popular long before ecommerce was a big thing. For as long as mass print methods have been available, businesses have been marketing themselves through article creation, by offering something of value to print medium like widely read newspapers in exchange for a byline or a small advertisement. When it come to ecommerce and internet marketing, article marketing is an excellent means for getting information out there and creating powerful links back to your website or affiliate products.

When it comes to article marketing, there are numerous benefits and features to consider:

- This form of marketing creates powerful links from popular websites back to your website or affiliate products. The more links you have coming to your website from other sources, the more powerful your website will be in search engine page listings like Google.

- By providing value in the articles that you create, you will be establishing yourself as a trusted authority on the keywords, niches or subjects that you are writing about. When readers know they can count on you for real, honest information, they will keep coming back for more.

- By adding a byline or resource box to your content you will be giving potential customers a way to contact you after reading your valuable content. Not only will this create powerful links, but it will also help connect additional traffic to your website that you would not normally be able to get.

- By creating articles optimized for search engines you will be improving your overall traffic and even your overall page rank by submitting to content sites with high page ranks and authority.

For these reasons, it is absolutely vital that article marketing be a facet of any internet marketing plan that you put together.

While there may be a variety of different ways to market your internet site, one of the most powerful is to use valuable, easy to read article content with a call to action for readers who appreciate your work to visit your website for more information, products, a newsletter, and so on and so forth.

John Zajaros

The Ultimate Internet Image
Inbound, New Media Marketing Specialists
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
440-821-7018 (cell)
216-712-7004 (office)

PS., Check out SEOLinkVine for an incredibly efficient system for generating content and backlinks! and SubmitYourArticle.com is wonderful for effortless and very dependable article submission!

Lee Milteer is an internationally known Performance & Productivity Coach, TV Personality, and Speaker who has counseled and trained over a million people throughout her career.

Greetings John,

As we discussed last week, we’re doing a series on creating prosperity in your life. My sincere desire is to share with you strategies to empower you and help you to gain the confidence that comes from understanding how manifesting works; to give you the tools to create whatever you want; to take your vision, your dreams, your hopes, and your fantasies and make them real.

One huge roadblock to creating prosperity is holding on to angry feelings — bearing a grudge. As an example, Tammy is a friend of mine; she and her husband had just moved into their first home when she found out she was expecting their first child. The new house needed a complete paint job so Tammy’s father offered to come over and help her paint. After two weeks of hard work in close quarters, Tammy and her father began to get on each other’s nerves. One day they had a raging fight where both of them said some very nasty things to each other. Her father ultimately left the house angry and refused to come back and finish painting. They haven’t spoken to each other since the big blow-up, leaving Tammy so upset that she burst into tears at the mere thought of her father. Tammy’s husband wants her to call her father for reconciliation, but she remains adamant that it’s his place to call her. After all, she is expecting her first child and he deserted her in the middle of this huge painting job, even though she recognizes the blow up was really over a misunderstanding and nothing to argue about; she stubbornly maintains that she is right.

The problem here is that she would rather be right than have peace in her family — and this energy leak of worrying about the rift in her family is creating unhappiness for her. No matter who you are, you have some type of similar story from your own life or business. So many times, we hold on to our righteous feelings, even when it hurts us and our businesses. We are too stubborn to give in and admit that we are 50 percent of the problem.

An important rule of creating a happier, healthier, and more successful life, is to be aware of the how you are using your life energy; you are made up of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual life energy. If you’re using your energy holding on to past grudges, anger, guilty feelings or not letting go of negative feelings like Tammy is doing, you’re wasting your life energy. Using your life energy to hold on to negative thoughts prevents you from creating new ideas and then having the energy to take action on them. The antidote is to forgive yourself and forgive other people. Many people have a hard time with the concept of forgiveness. But the point is that you do not have to condone what wrongs you perceive others to have done. You’re not forgiving them for them. You are giving yourself a gift by forgiving them for yourself. Forgiveness is releasing the thoughts, grudges, and anger that take up your time and energy. Through forgiveness and release of negative energy, your power of attracting good is greatly increased.

Love and Light,

Lee Milteer

Lee Milteer is an internationally known Performance & Productivity Coach, TV Personality, and Speaker who has counseled and trained over a million people throughout her career. Lee is the founder of the Millionaire Smarts® Coaching Program and is also a best-selling author of educational resources like Success is An Inside Job and Overcoming Unproductive Behaviors. Find out more and sign up for no-cost success resources at www.milteer.com.

Imagine having a mentor with experience building businesses since 1974! Imagine he is totally committed to one thing…your success! And imagine all of this can be started today!

All things are possible and I love Internet marketing, I believe in inbound marketing, and it is my belief we should all pay our good fortune forward!

Check out my other blogs and the keywords associated with them…they are for real and I am on page one more times than most of my competition!

I am committed to help a small group of Internet marketing entrepreneurs make it, and I will not rest until you do…should you wish to join me!

Try out the ultimate internet marketing program, focusing on the inbound marketing model. Your success is my success!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.,
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetmarketing.info

PS, Go to the Video Traffic Dominance Informational link and begin your new business today!

I grappled, a great Ari Galper term, with my decision to post this article at all, it isn’t exactly a positive one and not my usual style, but I finally decided in favor of doing so. My main reason? I received an email claiming to be able to help me build an Internet marketing membership site in 6 minutes! It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. You’ll see why below. So, here it is!

I recently heard a statistic about Internet marketing membership sites and it has been in my head for several days, weeks actually. The statistic surprised me, at least at first, and I wanted to know more. What puzzled me most, it actually still puzzles me a bit, is that business people using this model, in this case fellow Internet marketers, would have such a difficult time holding onto clients. This is particularly perplexing in light of the fact that I was, and actually still am to a certain degree, although I recently joined a very high-end one, eager to find a membership program I can use to build my business, long-term. It just seemed logical to me that if I felt this way, there must be others who wanted the same sort of long term attachment and quality.

I am well aware of the fact that people seek out like-minded individuals to share a common bond and build a community. Interestingly, this need for connection and community is one of the primary reasons why social media is so popular. If you add to the desire for community, a desire to build an income, whether a supplemental income to help with expenses and/or build for the future, or as a primary online business, in the Internet marketing niche or in some other aspect of the online business setting, you have a powerful draw and a very appealing marketing opportunity.

Interestingly, as I started exploring the various Internet marketing communities, with an eye toward joining an Internet marketing business building membership site, I had trouble finding one without major flaws. I was looking for an Internet marketing membership site that would fill my immediate need for community and masterminding; and, would supply my long-term requirements, providing the necessary tools to build my business. Sadly, I really didn’t find anything that came close to my expectations, some were fairly decent in the nuts a bolts but severely lacking in support and community or vice versa.

I started doing even more research, particularly focusing on the longevity of membership sites. Interestingly, many of the membership sites weren’t faring much better than the average membership site membership. Well, perhaps a bit better…but many sites came and went almost as fast as their members! After joining a few, some I can only refer to as marginal, and others half-way decent, membership sites I was beginning to get a real sense of why many membership sites fail and why many people don’t stick around any longer that a few months, if that.

Overall, the membership sites I looked at were confirming my initial observation, that no one offered a total package. Far too many membership sites seemed to be get ‘em in, upsell ‘em, down sell ‘em if you have to, and then move ‘em on kind of opportunities. The opportunities seemed more focused on the immediate income machination for the individual site owners than on servicing his or her clientele. Perhaps this is a bit harsh…but only a bit for some.

A proviso!

There are some very ethical, dedicated Internet marketers out there who are doing their best to deliver a high value product at a fair price, they are doing their best in a highly competitive arena and I applaud them. I will be doing an article featuring some of them in the weeks to come. Unfortunately, there are far too many who are just not cutting it…and they are giving the others a black eye!

Interestingly, many of the membership and continuity site failures I’ve looked at seem to be the result of slip-shod planning, combined with throwing a site up before a product is even created. Many of the failures are not very well-though out endeavors, and the mentoring here leaves something to be desired.

Imagine Henry Ford saying to people, “Here’s a gas pedal, I will send you the steering wheel next, and in 52 weeks you will have the whole car. Or how about Andrew Carnegie sending some iron, next week the coal, and so on. You get the idea? Take it a step further, many out there don’t even have the steering wheel or the coal in their possession…but they are already promising it and taking money for it! This is borderline behavior and at the very least patently unethical and to me seemingly unscrupulous.

I have also listened to a few recordings where gurus of some note have admitted they have allowed a few of their membership sites to close down…because they were “hard work” and “too expensive!” My gut reaction to this statement was, “Life’s hard!” Followed almost immediately by, “What about your members, the people who had joined you in your endeavor and invested time and money believing your membership site was a good thing and would be around a while…so they could grow their businesses?”

Anyway, back to the membership sites that do exist and why they fail to hold members for more than a couple of months. I began my research by joining a few of the more popular membership programs, trying to apply them to build my business. Once a member of a few of the better known Internet marketing sites, the reason why they fail to keep their members became glaringly apparent. The main failure, the issue plaguing the majority of the Internet marketing membership sites, is in the area of service and support. Failure in the area of service and support has killed many businesses. In a business selling information and service, failure to serve leads to disenchantment and disaffection…meaning people quit!

Service and support can either make or break a company; and, some of the best known Internet marketing membership sites are notorious for their terrible service and support. The lack of quality service and support is in large part, in my opinion, due to outsourcing and a lack of true accountability from the top down and the bottom up.

Combine a lack of service and support with overcommitting and/or overselling…not to mention plain old bait and switch…and you leave a bad taste in people’s mouths right from the get-go. The same tactics that ruined the American car industry and got established companies like Sears, Roebuck, and Company into hot water are now practiced on a daily basis, throughout the day, and in all areas of the Internet. It is only a matter of time before the government cracks down, just as they did in the automobile and in the big ticket retailing businesses. And, when they do, the businesses built on bait and switch, upsell/downsell tactics will collapse under the weight of government scrutiny and consumer awareness.

The combination of quality and service combined with cleanliness (QSC), made Ray Kroc a wealthy man and McDonalds a household world; that, and an efficient system. Failure in the area of quality and service destroyed the American automobile industry for more than 2 decades, from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s…and some would argue permanently. Attention to quality in the 1950s, through to present day, took Japan from being known for making “cheap” products, cheap in the sense that they were the joke of the world, to being known for quality around the globe.

This same failure of quality and service (read: support) is witnessed today throughout the world, the slip-shod manner of doing business fast and loose, combined with greed…profit before product, responsible for the Enron debacle, our current financial catastrophes and, in microcosm, the current state of buyer distrust and lack of staying power on the Internet; and, staying power of Internet marketing membership sites, as a whole!

Internet marketing membership sites fail due to lack of service and support, yes, but they also fail, and this is the big one, because they fail to integrate what Tony Robbins calls CANI! Consistent and never-ending improvement! To quote a goobledygook term, “Baby steps!” The concept has been around for a long time. Marc Joyner has a program called Kaizen, a Japanese term for gradual and consistent change (improvement) over time.

Basically, the same thing Tony Robbins has called CANI!

I like CANI!

Although CANI reminds me a little bit of the sweet wine we used to buy for the ladies years ago…not that long ago!

Significantly, others have talked about constant and never-ending improvement over the years (CANI!). People like Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich, Earl Nightingale in The Strangest Secret, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, and many others have all spoken of it in books, radio broadcasts, and in a variety of seminars, books, tapes, CDs and DVDS.

Regardless of what you call it, Kaizen or CANI, the idea of constant and never ending improvement has been somewhat lost on the Internet marketing membership site model.

The fact is, most sites get slapped up and that’s that. The problem is there is such an intense learning curve and people learn differently, basically A through Z, with stops along the way for A- and B+, that unless all the areas are covered and quality service and support is implemented and maintained, people get lost…and it is usually the new person, the “newbie” (and I hate that designation almost as much as “guru”) that gets lost.

When teaching a new skill, in this case teaching a person to build an online business, you are taking the person’s money and if you don’t deliver, costing them money. That is not a place you want to be, delivering marginal to inadequate service and support and costing people money in two ways. Yet, it is precisely here that most Internet marketing membership sites fail. The nature of the site demands attention to detail and quality support!

Some of these Internet marketing membership sites are making millions, servicing thousands, and yet have inadequate support staff. That’s kind of like selling 500 cars a month out of a new Chevrolet dealership and having one mechanic on staff and two part-timers, neither of whom “speakie-d-English!” It is a recipe for disaster…and yet it is a business model used for memberships sold every day!

The solution?

CANI!

By whatever name you call it, a combination of consistent and never ending improvement and a dedicated support team focused on quality service above all else. It may cost a bit more initially but the return in terms of membership continuity, real continuity, should return the investment one hundred fold in little or no time at all. People beginning a new business or simply seeking to supplement their income are looking for a quality program at an affordable price, one offering top-notch support and first class service in a product they can understand and implement without a doctorate in Internet marketing. There are programs that come close to fitting that bill, the best one I have found so far I am still in the process of evaluating…more to follow!

In the meantime, if you are considering a membership site model…make service and support job one! You will never regret it, and your bank account will reflect your members’ reaction to a happy affiliation, one that will definitely last more than 3 months! And finally, whatever you do, don’t get sucked into one of these “Set up a Membership Site in 6 Minutes” deals! If you do, you will only end up damaging your credibility and the credibility of the entire industry. If you take the time to set up your site properly, making sure you have quality content and the right business model, you will be a hit and you will develop raving fans and not simply “satisfied” clients who leave you in a matter of a couple of months with a bad taste in their mouths and nothing nice to say about the experience.

Build it and they will come…build it properly and they will stay!

John Zajaros
216-712-6526
866-835-
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com