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Screencasts - a video of your actual desktop, along with commentary - are very popular in marketing circles: they are used to create tutorials, reviews, and all kinds of recording.

ScreenCast-O-Matic is a free tool that allows you to do all this from your browser.

It might not be the best solution for your use, because the screencasts are hosted at the site, but for a quick review or a quick tutorial there’s nothing simpler.

As a kind-of bonus, there’s a lot of screencasts already hosted there. So search for Hosting, or Blogging, or other search terms and you’ll find plenty of tutorials to help.

If you want to make screencasts to host at your own site or even resell as part of a package you’d be better off with the free, and opensource Camstudio, or the internet marketing variant which adds features such as redirect to url here: Camstudio Internet Marketers - for $9

Technorati Tags: camstudio, internet marketing, internet marketing video, screencasts

Tags: camstudio, internet marketing, internet marketing video, screencasts

I’ve updated the Traffic Tips page at this site, so it’s in the new design and re-written. This is basically my master sheet of traffic generation methods. It’s every method that works, all on one page.

So if I get asked “How Do I Promote My Site” again, I can just point that person right there.

Seriously, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about driving traffic to your site. Although there are a myriad of more specific techniques, such as those that work for one specific service, or those that work for one obscure niche everything really falls into one of the categories here:

Traffic Tips

I’ve kept that page as clean and informative as possible and I’ll update as the need arises, so if you want to point your visitors somewhere for traffic tips, consider mine (hint).

I was going to make that into a blog post, but that would bring all of the rest of the blog (sidebars, etc) with it. And I really wanted it to be clean and quick loading for those that need it.

Technorati Tags: advertising, hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, seo, traffic tips

Tags: advertising, hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, seo, traffic tips

I’ve just created and uploaded a major new package of Marketing Products, which you can have for free!

This is one of the best compilation packages I’ve created to date - you can download it at the link below.

There are TEN items in total, ranging from eBooks to Software that will help you sell and promote your products and sites online. Individually, these also have rights included so you can use them in your packs, sales, membership sites and offers if you so wish.

You’ll get:

Real World Traffic Strategies
Contact Automator
Unleash The Book Within
The 17 Method
PPC Affiliate Marketing
The Newbie Toolkit

…and much more!

Free Internet Marketing Products

Technorati Tags: free ebooks, free software, internet marketing, marketing downloads, marketing freebies

Tags: free ebooks, free software, internet marketing, marketing downloads, marketing freebies

I don’t usually post about the general “Make Money” methods that are prevalent on the web today - my subject is Internet Marketing, which takes a longer business-building view to creating an income.

However I understand that many people find the subject too technical and long-term for their needs and just wish a simple way they can earn money, and soon. Perhaps with some cash behind them they can then graduate to building websites and mailing lists, creating products and services, and generally aim for the big money

These usually trade your time for money. You won’t get rich doing this, but you will earn a few bucks you can perhaps invest in your future…

Offline Marketing

Just after I completed this list I came across this program, “Easy Offline Riches”. I’ll cover it in a little more detail in the future but it looks very promising.

The idea here is you contact businesses in your area, or further afield, and offer to get them a web presence. Many companies small and large would like a website, but have no idea how to go about it. Everyone from your local florist to the big car dealer around the corner is a potential lead for you. All the marketing is covered for you, giving you cards and ads you can use locally. You don’t even need to speak to the prospect yourself if you don’t want to…

The best part is you don’t have to create the business site yourself. You outsource it through this program, and earn up to $400 per sale! Take a look at this - and I’ll tell you more once I’ve researched it fully.

1. Ebay

Nothing beats ebay for it’s simplicity and it’s massive army of eager buyers. You can build a business here, specialising in whatever you want, or you can simply sell odds and ends you have that you no longer need. It’s both a glorified garage sale and a shopping mall.

Once you’ve sold your old ornaments, tools, clothes, CD’s, furniture and vehicles you can look into buying wholesale. There are many places that will sell you both new and second hand goods by the palette or container load. If you know your market, you can make a lot of money here - and fast!

If you want to make Ebay a full-time business (many do!) try SaleHoo for information on Wholesale Suppliers and selling direct.

2. Paid Surveys

There are many companies that will pay you to take surveys. Anything up to $40 per survey! You simply register with the correct sites and complete surveys as they are sent to you.

There’s a full guide to making $10-$40 per survey right here.

3. Writing For Cash

You can earn money writing anything from reviews, to blog posts. If you own a blog you can write posts to advertise certain companies, and they will pay you for the promotion.

At various consumer sites you can submit reviews, and earn that way. Some will connect authors to publishers, and other kinds of sites will pay you per page view of your article, and accept a wide range of articles. The idea is they get traffic from your content and make their money from affiliate programs or ads.

The pay will vary, a lot, but if you enjoy writing this maybe something you can do part time at least.

You can even reach for the big money by writing, if you can write technical manuals, ghost write for others, enter writing competitions, or even get the next best-seller. Let’s face it, it’s unlikely, but there’s nothing wrong with a little ambition.

4. Helping Others

If you have a skill, you can trade that for cash. Whether it’s a technical skill or an interpersonal one you can market yourself online. Good with graphics, web design, programming, copywriting, promotion ? Or can you help people use their computers, get a web presence, or even search for information ?

If you have spare time you can even trade that. There are many busy marketers who pay for tasks such as submitting to directories, writing articles, post to blogs and forums, write transcriptions, do translations or other such tasks.

The best places to look for work are forums such as the Warrior Forum or DigitalPoint and then there are freelance sites such as eLance and Rent-A-Coder. You can even get basic work from Amazon’s Manual Turk service.

The pay won’t be great… but it IS pay. So if you’re a stay at home mom or a broke student perhaps this is one way you can earn some pocket (or beer!) money from your skills.

5. Get Paid To…

These sites usually make their money from advertising, and so pass on a little of that to their users.

Get Paid To read e-mail. Very little, perhaps $0.02 per e-mail, but like anything it can add up. It depends on the network as to how many e-mails you receive and you usually have to total a minimum before you get paid.

Get Paid To complete offers. These companies earn from their affiliate income, so you will be asked to join various sites such as gambling sites, free trials at DVD rentals, etc in exchange for a cut of that income. An offshoot of this are the companies that promise free iPods, Playstations etc for completing similar offers.

Get Paid To network. There are some social networks, notably Yuwie.com, that will pay you to make friends, create content, etc. Essentially the income stream here is again the traffic you generate from that, but it is something you could try.

6. Internet Marketing

I’ve already said this is the way to make real money. It’s not a straightforward “work for cash” as in the methods above, but it’s far better for a long term strategy.

The two important points here are (1) A website with an offer/sale of some kind, and (2) Traffic to that website. It’s setting all that up that can get people unstuck. This entire site is about that subject, so explore and enjoy

Technorati Tags: freelance, get paid surveys, get paid to write, internet marketing, make money

Tags: freelance, get paid surveys, get paid to write, internet marketing, make money

Here’s more quick links to websites and blogs you may want to visit. Remember, feel free to add your own in the comments. As long as they are relevant, they will stay.

Rich Schefren– “The Uncertainty Syndrome”

Johnny’s Training Blog

List of “DoFollow” Forums - get some one-way links

Charles Heflin - Social Media Blog

299 Steps… To Website Heaven

Web Tools - For Marketers

SEOBook Blog

Tip: Stumbleupon is great for finding popular sites in any niche - including this. Use your toolbar as a search (click Search in the Channels area) and open multiple tabs, clicking “Stumble” in each one

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, marketing links

Tags: internet marketing, marketing links

This is the big promotion of the moment, by Mike Filsaime, so I feel I ought to say something about it.

First - I don’t have a copy, or intend to buy a copy. Neither am I promoting it.

Traffic Fusion is a very expensive product. Well, actually two products. Traffic Fusion and something called “Hyper Java”. The cost is… wait for it! … $1500 AND a monthly fee of $39. That’s why you’re seeing so many ads at the moment. There’s a hefty commission for those promoting it!

Ignore all the bumph about Integration Marketing etc - they are just buzzwords put to something that’s been done for years -the basic idea is this: You get to place your ads on other peoples “Thank You” pages.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but apart from some spit-and-polish where you can create, track, tweak your ads etc this is nothing new. In fact an underused service called “Thank You Ads” did more or less the same thing, but it run as a basic traffic exchange. And interesting fact #2, I remember Mike himself used this on at least one of his sites, listdotcom.com

Sure, you could strike it lucky and get to meet some good JV partners and get your own product on some big sellers page - but let’s face it, it’s unlikely. The idea is sound in that Thank You pages are in some ways prime real estate, and the visitor there already has/her credit card out,  but that’s not a new idea.

I’m actually thinking the big launches are not as interesting as they used to be. Are the guru’s running out of ideas (lol) ? Are they getting lazy ? Are they just repackaging and rebranding ?

This is the second big launch in the last few weeks after “Stomping The Search Engines”, but that was more or less free so I was happy to promote. I’m having trouble figuring out the benefits to this one.

There are some great bonus offers around, and there’s a lot of “stuff” thrown in to sweeten the deal with Traffic Fusion, but the core benefit of this just doesn’t seem worth the outlay.

Now Mike is a successful marketer, so I’m sure he knows what he’s doing with Traffic Fusion, but my gut feeling here is style over substance. If you feel you can get some benefit from this then go ahead - here’s the non-affiliated link - but please tread carefully.

This is not a scam, you know what you’re getting, but you have to decide for yourself whether or not you can make use of it. I have nothing against high priced products - because one persons “expensive” is anothers “reasonable”.  As for me? , I’ll pass.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, traffic fusion

Tags: internet marketing, traffic fusion

“Flipping” a site usually means you buy or build a site simply to resell it, at a profit. If of course you start the site from scratch, then it’s nearly all profit - minus the cost of the domain name.

By using templates you can do this relatively quickly. In fact, a guy in this warrior forums post did it in less than 24hr - live in the forum.

He used Wordpress, and I’ve said before Wordpress is an ideal solution to build quick, content-based sites.

Here’s the basic process if you want to try it yourself:

1. Get a multiple-domain hosting account. A reseller account is fine.

2. Pick a niche, and research it. Use the usual keyword tools such as the Google sandbox to find popular searches for the niche.

3. Create a domain name for the niche, and register it, then link it to your host.

4. Install Wordpress

5. Write posts for each of the other popular keyword searches you decide to use. Ensure they are keyword heavy with the actual search term in the post title.

6. Place the domain for auction at sitepoint or similiar. Alternatively, you can decide to run the domain yourself, and earn from affiliate links and advertising.

You can in fact easily build new domains fast with this basic method. There are literally thousands of Wordpress themes available, so they can all look different, and once you get the hang of installing and setting up wordpress it can be done in a matter of minutes.

The only real work involved is the writing of the articles. But with the web research is easy, so even that is simplified.

An readily designed site with content can easily raise over $100, and for little work. And if you manage to grab an expired domain (also try this) that already has age, traffic and pagerank, that goes up - a lot.

In fact, the same method can be used to build a network of niche blogs, since they’re so quick and easy to create, but the workload involved in writing posts for, say, 20 blogs can easily become too much to handle. Outsourcing is a solution, but why not get started on your first niche blog today and get a feel for the process

You may also like this post - for the opposite process. You can even combine them - buy a domain (even if its a cheapo ebay site), give it a makeover and some traffic, then sell it on. Many successful people already do!

Technorati Tags: blog flipping, internet marketing, selling domains, site flipping

Tags: blog flipping, internet marketing, selling domains, site flipping

Tell A Friend systems have been around for a while, and the process is deceptively simple: the visitor recommends your site to his/her contacts.

This is a very powerful concept: It’s social marketing, to the nth degree. It can mean 2,3,4 or any visitors to your site per visitor that arrives. It can literally multiply your traffic.

Of course, not everyone will recommend their friends, so that is where an ethical bribe or two can come into play. For recommending, the visitor will receive a gift or bonus from you.

You can even direct new visitors to a special welcome page, with even more gifts, and ask them to refer their visitors too!

So this not just social marketing, it’s viral marketing.

While tell a friend boxes used to be prevalent on websites in the early days they’ve fallen into disuse lately. There is no good reason for this, yet it means the idea is not oversaturated. More chance for you!

There are various tell a friend scripts available, for free and for a fee, and there are also some commercial offerings. In fact, I’ve just come across a brand new program that does all of the above along with many more unique features. How about automatically importing the users address book for starters… Imagine the possibilities there.

Beware untried scripts: Some years ago I installed a “free” tell-a-friend at my site, and while it worked a dream it later became spyware, and tried to install more spyware and spawn popups on my visitors. The same thing happened with an exit-exchange I used at the time.

I’ll post a review of the new system soon. But this is a very useful traffic generation method you should be using on your website.

Update: As mentioned by Sean in the comments below, there’s a cool widget for wordpress, which I’ve started using. Roll over the button to see it in action

Technorati Tags: hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, tell a friend, Traffic, traffic strategy, traffic tips, visitors

Tags: hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, tell a friend, Traffic, traffic strategy, traffic tips, visitors