Be Aware Everyone

BE careful when submitting links or at least be aware.

Interesting thing I discovered today. One of the forums I’m involved in, Band of Gonzos, has a new member (for a few weeks) that has introduced herself twice now and I’m convinced she is just promoting her own forum and Hosting site…

Anyway… She also has a directory on her forums website. It’s actually integrated into the forum.

So she posts a few weeks ago about this directory and says, “Go on, it only takes a few moments to sign in and submit your sites!”

Well, one of the the first problems is you have to register in the forum in order to submit your site (unique and strange)…

BUT the bigger problem is this:

She posted again today and I thought I would go in and take a look at my listings in the directory. They weren’t there!… Did she decline them?

So I signed in and sure enough they are there! I have to be signed in to view them.

You know what that means? That means so do the Search Engines… Oh, that’s right! Search Engines don’t know my password! I guess they won’t see my links.

So needless to say THAT was a waste of time.

The forum says there are over 200 members… well that’s not accurate. That’s just people signing up to submit their sites that no one will see!

The real truth is that this person is just selling her own services. She is basically spamming our forum in a unique way…

AND it’s very possible the reason my Hosting Website doesn’t show up in her directory is because SHE has a hosting site or some of her buddies do and they don’t want the competition… She displays one in her signature at the forum I’m at…

So that just goes to show you what people will do.

Wasted my time for sure… but gave me an opportunity to educate!

Autoresponder is a must!

Why is it important for you to set up an Autoresponder?

If you haven’t started using them for your business, you are missing out on a great tool to automate your business and even provide a professional result.

If you have a form on a page to gather some information, why not have it automatically provide that information back once or over a number of e-mails…
Send people download links…
Provide a newsletter…
An eCourse…
Or simply use it to follow up with your clients or customers.
The possiblities are great.

If you are still curious, just Google it up. I bet you'll be flooded with answers in just seconds.

I hope it helps!

Podcasting 101

I’ve been meaning for some time to post about Podcasting and I actually was going to make an article page devoted to it… still will, but do to lack of time it may be sometime yet.

At the same time I want to mention it because it is growing in popularity and it might be something for you to look into for you business…

Wikipedia’s Podcasting Explanation
Podcasting is a method of publishing files via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically. It became popular in late 2004, intended largely for downloading audio files onto a portable MP3 player. However, listening to podcasts does not require a portable player and it is not traditional “broadcasting” to a mass audience at a fixed time.

Many online marketers (and probably some offline) are looking at this is an opportunity… an opportunity to provide another service to their clients or create a whole new service to attract and audience.

You are simply recording a broadcast that you can give people an opportunity to subscribe to via RSS.

You can create Podcasts that can be listened to by anyone at their convenience. They can listen to it on their desktop or on their iPod… Powerful stuff.
I’ve been watching this to see if it would take off for about 6 months now. About a month ago I noticed Rush Limbaugh (the popular radio host) was setting one up on his site… I thought… that could be the spark the ignites. Then I saw CNN with one!

A lot of internet marketers are talking about it and it’s potential.

For more information:
Podcast Directory
Podcasting News
Apple iPod Info
Free PodCast Receiver
Wired News Article

Those should get you started in understanding what it’s all about… it looks like it might be here to stay.

Check it out!