That's the topic I explore in this video, let me know what you think in the comments!

Let's Talk About The Gillette Ad Controversy

It took a lot for me to stay on point here because I really wanted to give you my opinion on the ad but instead, I talked about the business aspect, the marketing part of it.

It seems that some reports have come out saying that the Gillette's ad response has been positive. That's a load of crap if I ever saw one, they simply want to spin this to show that social justice has a place in marketing. Short answer, it doesn't.

Other reports claim that the ad didn't fare well for Gillette. Either way, take a look at the ad, watch my video and let me know what you think in the comments!

The comments are still raging right now, even at the time of this writing, there are comments being posted daily reminding Gillette that the customers are displeased with this "short film."

About the thumbnail. The thumbnail says "Brilliant Marketing OR get Woke, Go Broke?" - You may be wondering what that means. If you're here for Internet marketing, that may not be in your radar at all.

What IS 'Get Woke, Go Broke'?

But if you wanted to know, the phrase "get woke, go broke" means, according to Urban Dictionary:

Get Woke, Go Broke is a phrase coined by the internationally bestselling author John Ringo to express the opinion that when organizations "get woke" to politically correct actions, those same actions usually result in a massive loss of income.

And I guess I would agree with that definition, so that's at the core of my video.

If you haven't watched the ad, here's Gillette's Original Ad:

The Best Men Can Be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0

Commentary videos:

CBC --The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, similar to PBS.

Notice the dislike ratio also on this one:

Tim Pool - Political journalist and commentator.

This was one of the earliest commentaries that came out and he eventually made over 8 or so videos about the topic. Worth watching.

The Quartering - This guy has a commentary channel, mostly about the gaming and Youtube community.

This commentary seemed to be pretty spot on. I included it because this is an average dude, you can't really pick up on a political agenda from him, but he wanted to comment on this.

For people that said things like, or took a stand like:  "I just don't understand why this is such a big deal," this might be a good video, almost at 1 million views.

The post Let’s Talk About the Gillette Ad Controversy appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

The reasons for adding subtitles to your video are many.

If your video is properly closed captioned, more people can watch it. Closed captions are used by people that can't listen to a video to be able to read or interpret the message from the video.

Youtube creates automatic closed captions, but they're not always accurate.

One more benefit for the closed captions is that you can describe sounds and activity that the automatic captions won't ever do.

You can even add an introduction text where you plug your company. I do this at the beginning of the introduction and I say something like "closed captioning by notagrouch.com".

I think it looks pro and it looks like the captions you see on movies and TV. You can see that in the video below if you have CC turned on.

I also decided to spend more time on my own captions because I noticed an increase in youtube views recently after I started following best practices recommended both by Youtube and other Youtube experts.

So I made a video on how to do it. This is when you want to do them from scratch. There are two other methods that are more suitable for making adjustments to existing transcripts.

I also have a feeling that closed captions can or may affect search engine rankings. It makes sense to me that they would, but I'm not sure yet. Here's that tutorial for now:

How To Create Subtitles or Closed Captions on Youtube

The post Youtube Tutorial. How to Create Close Captions for Your Videos appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Emailing unsubscribers is nothing new, email marketers have been doing this for over a decade but there's always some newbie that thinks they just discovered the biggest secret in the planet and start sharing it and posting about it.

And they automated it whoop dee do!

You may be tempted to put unsubscribers into a new "why did you unsubscribe" funnel. And you can even do it so it looks like you did it manually through your Gmail account, you know, to add that "personal touch."

Hint, it's not a secret and it's not all that impressive. You can easily do this with Zapier, or IFTTT or even manually from within your Gmail account.

Still, don't do it.

If you're faced with the choice to do this or not do it-- Don't do it... yes, it's clever and "neat" but it's annoying AF and most likely illegal, plus it will most likely damage your technical reputation and email reputation with the big email providers.

Should you follow up with people that unsubscribe from your list? Maybe, but probably not automatically. If they are only subscribed to one of your lists and they already chose to unsubscribe, they don't expect yet another email.

The post Email Marketing: Sure Fire Way to Annoy and Alienate People appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I've talked about Shareasale before, I told you about Refersion and they even interviewed me a couple times. I promote Peerfly even though I don't really make money from their products.

But I wanted to highlight another network that is starting to pop up in my radar more and more frequently.

That is GrowSumo.

I'm seeing a few of big names and new names using the GrowSumo affiliate system. Seems that they're making themselves a name in the affiliate space.

Maybe I missed the boat, but I just recently found out about them.

I think you should check it out and see if they have any vendors that might fit your niche.

They have a lot of companies and I'm sure they're adding more every month. Right now, the majority of the available merchants seem to be software based.

I'm partners with Evernote, Streak CRM, and recently a couple of new companies I'm learning more about. I'm trying to get some demos from these new companies so I can show you what they're all about.

I made a video about Streak a couple years ago, and it still gets traction so I thought it would be time to revisit that.

But back to GrowSumo.

They have a centralized dashboard to show you all the activity going on with your partnerships. And they are really staying in touch with me as an affiliate. I have been on the dashboard a few times and their chat bots keep popping up.

Speaking of, you should hear the interview I did with Heather Havenwood about chatbots, it's right here.

GrowSumo seems to make it really easy for the affiliate manager to send a quick message to their affiliates. That's pretty standard but I think GrowSumo does it the best right now.

Although the new UI for Shareasale is pretty slick too... I'll talk more about that later, in another blog post.

GrowSumo really takes out the problem where affiliates sign up and they forget about your product. I admit it, I've done it.

It goes a little bit like this: Your program caught my eye, your product seems good, it fits my audience so I sign up and then forget all about your program.

Growsumo has kept me coming back for more and just today was the latest little trick to keep me coming back. I've only started promoting a couple products from their marketplace, but I have one sale and a few installs.

But another notable thing is that GrowSumo just kicked over $5.00 just for getting clicks!

I looked at the dashboard and there are other tiers that will get you more bonuses. But that's refreshing.

Not only do I get commissions and stay in touch with my affiliate managers, but GrowSumo is encouraging us so that we promote the programs.

You can check out their marketplace right here.

I know that $5.00 is just whatever, it's $5.00. It's even gimmicky, but when did an affiliate network pay you to promote their vendors' links. And just to get some clicks. Not even sales yet! (well, just the one).

It's almost like getting paid just for clicks. I suspect this will be temporary as they ramp up their user base, so take advantage of it now while it lasts.

Check it out when you get a moment at GrowSumo.

The post GrowSumo Gave me Five Bucks Just Because appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Who's Stephan Spencer?

Stephan is an SEO authority expert, author, speaker and consultant helping some of the most prominent companies in the world.

Stephan is the author of The Art of SEO and he's one of the foremost experts in the field of search engine optimization. Stephan is also the host of two popular podcasts. The Optimized Geek and Marketing Speak. I'll tell you a little bit more about each podcast next, and you can find out everything else you need to know about Stephan at his website, stephanspencer.com

The Optimized Geek

I listened to a few episodes of The Optimized Geek when he first told me about the podcast, but it wasn't until recently that I started listening to every episode.

The Optimized geek talks about "life-hacks" for lack of a better term. Stephan interviews interesting people that have achieved high-level accomplishments and amazing personal transformations.

The podcast is about biohacking, personal transformations, I would say they're about self-optimization (is that even a real term?). Its official tagline is: Reboot and Improve your Life.

Stephan went through his own amazing transformation. If you knew him 6 years ago, you wouldn't recognize him today. I was flabbergasted when he first showed me and told me about his transformation.

I'd recommend it to anybody looking to learn how to master your body, your life, and relationships.

Marketing Speak

The other podcast, Marketing Speak is also a high-value podcast covering monologues and interviews with field and industry experts. I don't recommend it to everyone because it isn't for everybody.

If you're an entrepreneur, marketing geek like me, blogger, vlogger or business owner, then this is a must podcast to add to your subscriptions.

Both podcasts are available everywhere it matters: iTunes, Google Play, Sticher and probably other podcasting apps

So what did I ask Stephan Spencer During the Interview?

Our interview was about voice search and how it's changing the landscape of SEO.
⠀
Imagine that in the future, actually... right now, Google will not be showing you 10 blue links to pick one you like. Instead, it will be reading the summary of the top one result.

I say reading it because we have a boom in virtual assistants being deployed in our homes. Google Home, Alexa, Cortana and others are listening to your commands and queries triggered by your voice commands.

Most of these devices take the top-most result on a search query and read it out loud. This is the featured snippet of search engines. You might have noticed these the last time you did a search online.
⠀
Those little summaries in the search engines are called featured snippets and Stephan tells us the steps we can take to take advantage of those results so that our websites provide those results.

via GIPHY

If you can answer a question on your website, and your answer shows up on that spot, then Google Assistant in Google Home, Alexa, Siri, Cortana and other "smart" assistants will use your answer to give people searching with their voice.

The tricky part is making your blog or website the one that provides that answer. The interview is short, but packed with useful and actionable information to help you rank for featured snippets and start integrating voice search results as part of your overall SEO strategy.

The post How To Rank For Featured Snippets appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Today, Twitter is vastly different. Most people come to Twitter to absorb information about their favorite topics. The other majority is looking for information curated by the people they consider experts or knowledgeable about a specific topic.

The landscape of the Twitter world has changed dramatically due to technical changes and shifts in internet culture. That's not to say that you can't make personal connections and grow your business using Twitter.

One of the notable things that has changed for businesses is the fact that it's almost required for a business to have a Twitter account.

Having an account isn't enough though. It's like a muscle, you have to use it and exercise it if you want it to grow and give you results.

You, as a spokesperson for the business, must nurture and work on the account regularly. It's great to talk to your prospects, existing customers and anyone that might be friendly to you or your cause.

But if you have that covered, what else can you do to leverage Twitter?

If you want more Twitter traffic, share your content on Twitter

Sharing your own content on social media must be a part of your plan to grow your business and influence. This sentiment is shared by most of the top online business people and influencers. Even if they don't tell you that they're doing this, their actions usually reflect this.

But some of the helpful social media and online marketing experts, like Neil Patel, actually teach these techniques. Neil suggests that we share 10+ articles which go back to our content, each day.

He also talks about how to grow your audience on Twitter fast on this video:

But Twitter can be exhausting, after you talk to people, and respond to conversations pertinent to your interests and objectives, you may feel too tired or overwhelmed to share your own content. And didn't Neil say to share your posts 10 times each day IF you already have a lot of followers?

What if you don't have 200,000 followers or more like Neil does?

The actual number of times you should share your own articles each day may vary by a number of factors, like how many articles you have and how many followers you have.

If you have a few hundred followers, you may annoy them really fast if you share 10 or more articles about your own stuff every day; this could hinder your growth and hurt existing or budding relationships.

But you can determine the right number of articles for yourself by experimenting. Maybe you share 10 articles total, four that are yours, and six about the industry by other influencers or media outlets. Maybe you can switch that ratio.

Play with those numbers, but remember that if you want more Twitter traffic, share more stuff on Twitter. BTW, if you agree with that by now, do me a favor and hit the following Tweetable quote just by clicking on it.

If you are skeptical or hesitant to share a lot of your own stuff, I totally understand, in fact, I had a question about sharing other articles instead of mine and how I should split that ratio. I didn't expect it, but Neil actually answered my question right away:

By the way, my traffic did go up, significantly.

But even if you could magically determine the exact number of times you should share your own content, the problem remains the same for you. If you don't schedule all these articles at once, you have to consciously share the articles every day at random times throughout the day.

This is exhausting, and time-consuming. Add to that the fact that you are also trying to respond to people on Twitter or initiate conversations, and run a business, you may feel like giving up quickly.

I get it, it's a lot of work.

But technology and tools are here to make our lives easier, don't overcomplicate things.

Use the right techniques and tools, as Neil suggests and as I show you in the video below, you can schedule all your own content to be shared in advance, on a set schedule. You can set this up once a week, or once a month and schedule all of your content.

On a future blog post, I'll show you how to weave your own content with niche content by other influencers in your industry so that you can keep a healthy and interesting balance of content. Make sure you subscribe, or follow me so you don't miss it if you want to see that.

But here's the video I made explaining how to use Buffer's power scheduler feature to accomplish what we've been talking about.

This is one of the strategies that has helped me triple my Twitter followers. By the way, if you aren't following me, you can right here: @Notagrouch.

TL;DR

In conclusion, you should have a Twitter account to help you grow your business. One of the strategies to grow on Twitter and get more traffic from Twitter to feed your business is to share relevant content that you've created on top of the regular, one-to-one interactions with your followers.

The easiest way to do this is to schedule all your own content in advance using a tool like Buffer coupled with the technique I demonstrated in the video.

I'm in the draft mode for another post that will simplify this process even further, and will make you a Twitter powerhouse without breaking the bank. Make sure you stick around or subscribe to my list to get notified when that comes out. Of course, you can also get notified if you follow me on Twitter.

Have you tried this before? Are you hesitant? I love teaching and sharing my expertise, but I also want to hear back from you about this and would love to know if you've done this, or not. If yes, what kind of results have you seen and if you haven't done this, why not?

The post How To Schedule Your Content on Twitter Once a Month appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

It’s essential that you get your business prepared for 2018 by learning the strategies that are going to take place. This will help you to stand out from the rest of your competition and get a great start when it comes to sales and promotion throughout the year. If you start the year great, you’ve got the best chance ending the year great.

Here to give you a head start in the digital marketing game, here are eight key advertising trends that are going to shape our every move in the upcoming year.

Continuous Ad-Blocking

Back in 2017, the number of users who installed ad-blockers on their mobile devices nearly doubled with an increase of 90%. As of December 2016, over 236 million internet users had one of the most popular ad blockers installed on their computer browsers. This has been continuing year or year and looks set for 2018 to be the biggest yet. This means it’s vital that you don’t just rely on ad-marketing by rather use a balance of techniques.

Instead of just using paid advertisements on publisher websites, in 2018, you’re going to need to start thinking outside the box. Try to think of new, industry-relevant ways that you can get your message and brand in front of your customers.

Of course, the main way to do this will through content marketing, but more on that later. However, there are ways that you can get around ad blockers. One of the most popular ad blockers, known as Ad Blocker Plus, is free for users and allows them to navigate the web, speeding up their browser experience and hiding those pesky ads.

However, Ad Blocker Plus doesn’t block every single ad. It does, in fact, operate what is known as an ‘acceptable ad policy. Ads can be whitelisted to this service and places are accepted on the basis of the size, distinction and placement of the ad itself. If it’s not the in the way of the user’s experience, you can still get your ads shown.

Bear this in mind when spending your budget on paid advertising campaigns. Here’s the link for how to get your ads whitelisted.

However, there will be some restrictions, and obviously, not all ads will be able to be shown at all times. This means that the ads you do use need to be clever and of the high-quality, such as the ones you can manage and create using Adobe Experience or AdRoll.

Bigger and Better Than Ever

As we all know, Google and Facebook have been the dominating force in the ad industry over the last few years. However, with all the implementations and features that the tech-giants are adding over this year and next year, the race is on to be bigger and better than ever before!

You’ll also want to consider other marketing giants that are taking the world by storm. In particular, you’ll want to draw your focus to Instagram and Snapchat. Although somewhat similar and each platform being each other’s rivals, both are extremely popular and if you haven’t already got an account on either platform, you need to do so now!

“Of course, this means you’re going to need to adapt and add to your existing content marketing strategy which takes time and budget, but the return and interaction you’ll get back from your customers are unparalleled” – explains Maria Williams, a Content Marketer at Write my essay company.

Stricter SEO Guidelines

SEO has changed in recent years from being based on the keywords that user’s use when trying to search for something to websites and businesses having to give their users the best experience possible. This means all businesses will have to up their game in 2018, giving users the most fluid and best possible experience.

With this in mind, as the year starts to draw to a close, you’ll need to start considering how you can improve your user experience. Your website needs to be extremely easy to navigate and well laid-out. One of the most important factors you’ll need to consider is the overall speed of your website.

You’ll lose about 30% of your users if your website takes over two-seconds to load and you’ll be ranked lower in the Google search bar. Bear this in mind when it comes to uploading high-quality images and data-heavy pages.

You’ll also want to consider whether or not your website works well on mobile devices and there are no dead links!

High-Quality Content

Content marketing is still taking off bigger and better than it has ever been before. However, instead of spammy articles, users are looking for really high-quality and valuable posts that can change their lives. This means businesses and marketers will have to proofread and edit their content (for example, by using Big Assignments or State of Writing online editing tool) to absolutely perfect or risk their hard-earned follower counts.

As mentioned in the first point, content marketing is, and has proven to be, the way forward, and it’s essential that you strive for absolute perfection. This means instead of spending your time creating 20 or so average articles to put out, instead focusing on putting 3 or 4 amazing articles that provide real information and value to your reader.

For advice and guidance on creating this kind of high-quality, engagement-creating content pieces, you can check out online writing resources such as Coursework service and Australian Help, two sites that are home to professional writers that have been keeping up with these trends.

Programmatic Advertising Boom

This industry and technique have been building up momentum all year, and it’s predicted that programmatic advertising is really going to come to the forefront of marketing early next year.

This means you’ll be able to bid for advertising space, all while receiving valuable information on your users that can help you define and target your audience much more effectively.

If you haven’t got started with programmatic advertising, now is the time to do so. You can start using online services, such as the Rubicon Project or Google’s own DoubleClick program.

Valuable Information

We’ve seen this consideration increasingly becoming important throughout 2017, but the value of your copywriting online will be one of the things that define you as a business.

Whether it’s your content marketing campaign, your website copy, your product descriptions, your contact page or the content of your email marketing strategy, you must consider the quality of your work.

This is because, as mentioned above, users are looking for the best experience possible and Google is looking out for high-quality pieces, website and content to put at the top of their search engine results page.

This means you’ll need to invest a serious amount of time and money into your content, rather than sitting down trying to cram as many keywords into an article as possible.

If, as you’re trying to run a business, you don’t have time to write the content for your website, your articles, blog posts etc. don’t risk uploading poor-quality content. 2017/2018 has also brought around a wealth of writing services, such as Custom essay or Academadvisor, who can create the high-quality content on your behalf.

It’s All About Video Media

This has been a reoccurring theme for many years but, what is known as outstream videos, are becoming more and more popular every single day and 2018 is going to be huge for them. It’s predicted it could even be as much as 77%!

An outstream video is a video that’s played on a computer or mobile device and means that advertisers can play videos outside the players, such as following a user as they scroll. This makes for a better ad experience for the user while still giving you the opportunity to advertise your business.

Hand in hand with the consideration on social media, you need to make sure that you’re taking full advantage of the features that are available to you.

Going back to Instagram and Snapchat, both are extremely heavy when it comes to visuals and, if you think creatively, you’ll be able to create your own niche and community of followers based on the content that you implement.

This means using the ‘story mode’ on Instagram and especially using live videos. It’s worth noting that only 29% of businesses have considered using the Live Video feature on Instagram, but it’s predicted that this will skyrocket over the coming year. Make sure your business is ahead of the game.

Chatbots are Taking Over!

Okay, so they’re not taking over, but 2017 saw a huge increase in chatbots, especially for companies. In fact, there’s over 100,000 of them already, and this number will only increase in 2018. Predominantly, on websites such as Facebook, although 2017 was a year of ups and down as the service didn’t quite take off as expected.

However, 2018 will be a lot different and chatbots are expected to be a huge driving force when it comes customer experience and interaction with a business. Once again, this all about building up this customer experience and making it as perfect as possible. Not everybody who has a question for a business has the ability or time to phone, nor wants to. Sometimes, international borders mean a phone call simply isn’t feasible, but they still don’t want to wait for an email reply.

“Many people would rather sit at their computers while chatting every few minutes to a representative from your business. Chatbot software and platforms are now readily available for businesses to implement and it’s well worth looking into as a business, especially if you have, or want, a lot of interaction from your customers” – explains Rosemarie Janssen, a Marketing Manager at Essayroo.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, many of the trends that are coming up in 2018 could potentially define the marketing industry forever, so it’s vital that you pay attention to what’s going on, allowing you to be one step ahead of the game and one step ahead of your competition.

Remember to think creatively and explore all the options, features and platforms that are currently available to you to find the best way to promote, advertising and spread the word when it comes to your business.

About Gloria Kopp.

Gloria Knopp is an advertising manager and a content writer for Paper Fellows. She also regularly contributes her articles to The Tab and PhD Thesis Writers blogs. Gloria is an author of Studydemic blog where she writes her guides and tips for students and educators.

The post 8 Key Digital Advertising Trends That Will Take Place in 2018 appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Maybe this sounds like you: A blogger has been blogging for months, maybe even over a year and hasn't made any money.

Perhaps they've made a few dollars here and there. But the reality is that most bloggers, and chances are that includes you, don't make enough to even cover basic costs.

It's not for lack of trying or for lack of skill, generally.

Keep in mind most successful bloggers didn't make money until months after starting their blog.

What do affiliates need to start making money online?

There are many things that comprise the recipe for profits online, but I'm going to cover two important factors that would help you make money if you haven't made enough money from your blog yet.

I know it can be frustrating.

Making money online is more than just posting content and sharing it. You can have a huge following and still fail to make a decent income. In this video, I dive into one of the main reasons why you're not making money despite all your efforts.

Check out the video and take action. If you're not profiting from your blog, maybe it's time you try something new, or time to upgrade your methods or products.

And if you don't think that these are the missing ingredients for your blog to start making money, let me know more about your situation in the comments and we can figure it out together.

https://youtu.be/t9ZgNvtSB2s

If you didn't want to wait for the entire video. The key of one of the messages is to start working with higher-end products which in turn pay out a higher level commission.

If you're interested in learning how to do that and start earning more money than ever before, check out the 21 step training I talk about in the video right here.

The post Affiliates: This Is Why You’re Not Making Money Online (Video) appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

This is a topic that is highly debatable and you'll find proponents of both methods. Each one has its merits and disadvantages. At the end, it comes down to how you send emails to the subscribers.

If you annoy your subscribers or send them irrelevant content, they will make SPAM complaints whether they joined your list via double opt-in, or single opt-in.

In some cases, the discussion isn't just a matter of opinion but a matter of law. Some countries or jurisdictions require that you collect email addresses properly and with full disclosure to the subscriber. That can be difficult with single opt-in methods.

I want to debunk a myth that permeates this discussion, too, while we are at it. In the U.S., businesses are guided by the CAN-SPAM Rule, and this does not specify that a subscriber has to opt-in. Here is a quick guide for business compliance on using promotional emails. In fact, you can theoretically email anybody you want so long as you follow the actual CAN-SPAM laws. The law doesn't say that the recipient of a marketing or promotional email must have opted in first.

Now that I got that out of the way, I thought I would make a short video talking about what I think it's best and why. Check out the video below and let me know what you think in the comments.

I mentioned some tools in the video so I'll link them here. So if you want to start an email marketing campaign, the three main tools I use are these:

Aweber - hosts my email lists and manages the sending and tracking of emails to my subscribers. Start for free here. Aweber allows single opt-in or double opt-in.

Optinmonster - provides me with opt-in boxes, sliders, and helps me capture people's attention before they decide to leave my blog or websites. Optinmonster doesn't have a free option or trial, but it's worth it if you have a website, doesn't matter if it's WordPress or not. Check it out here to learn more, or look through previous posts I've written about Optinmonster.

Leadpages - allows me to create amazing landing pages that connect to my email lists, they also have SMS opt-in services like leaddigits and it's all around one of my favorite landing page builders. Start for free here.

I recommend all three of these services if you are looking to start your email marketing efforts for your business.

The post Which Should You Use? Single Opt-in vs Double Opt-in appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I'm going to come out and say it directly; you should not start a blog with WordPress.com, Blogger.com, Medium.com, or other free blogging platforms. Specifically today I want to mention why you shouldn't go with WordPress.com if you want to start a blog for profit.

What's wrong with WordPress.com? Nothing is technically wrong with the service. It's reliable, it's fast and it's easy to use. However, if you want to start a blog for profit or a blog that will help your business generate income, then you should use the free, self-hosted counterpart to WordPress.com known as WordPress.org. I know it seems confusing, but if you read the points I make below and watch the video, hopefully, I will be able to clear things up for you.

WordPress.com will show ads to your visitors without your control. Also you don't get paid for those ads! The free version of WordPress.com doesn't let you use your own domain. When you set up your free blog with them, you'll need to use a non-branded address. For

For example, is not branded for you, but it's branded for WordPress.com. What you want is something like this: http://yourname.com

If you want to have your domain on WordPress.com, then you have to pay and it's no longer free. If you want to remove ads, then you have to pay more. If you want to monetize your blog you have to pay more! On top of that, you can't install custom 3rd party plugins, even if you pay at their highest plan. I explain more in the video below.

But basically, WordPress.com is free to start and what you get for free isn't what you need, even if you pay for the top level service they offer, you still won't get what you need.

WordPress.com is great if you're just tinkering with the idea of blogging. But if you want to be a little more serious about your business, or you want to make a blog that will make you money, you should go with WordPress.org.

Can't you transfer from WordPress.com to WordPress.org later on? Yes, you can but it's not easy, and you may lose followers, traffic and in some cases, you could lose content. Why risk that?

I invite you to get your blog started professionally by using my service. I explain it all in the video, so please watch it before you make a decision. If you decide you want to take advantage of my free blog setup, then make sure you use one of these web hosts:

• Inmotion Hosting - 47% off, business-centric. Great support.
• GreenGeeks Hosting - Low priced, environmentally friendly. Great support.

More details are in the video so you should watch it:

In this video, I mentioned two ways to get started with making money online. One is to apply for the 21 step online training course, click here to start. If you are accepted into the training, you'll get access to the same program that I use to make thousands of dollars, and you'll get a one-on-one coach to help you navigate through everything you need so you can also start making money.

The second one is to start a blog. I've just made the best offer I have ever made for my email subscribers that want to start a blog. If you're interested in taking advantage of that, make sure you're subscribed to my email list and I'll send you all the details. Go ahead and get a hosting account with either GreenGeeks, or Inmotion hosting, send me your information, and I'll take care of the rest.

The post The Truth about Free WordPress appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

My wife walked into the room the other day and asked me: Do you want to do a 100 day challenge with me? This caught my attention and I asked: What do we have to do each day?

She left it open to each of us. She's been on an amazing weight loss journey so she wants to do 100 days of 10,000 or more steps per day. She's already lost a lot of weight, so she's looking for ways to keep going and reach her ultimate goal so this makes sense for her.

To be honest, I could do with some weight loss myself, but I picked a different challenge. I'm doing 100 video & blog post challenge.

Here are the rules: Starting on June 1, produce 100 videos and 100 blog posts in 100 days. I guess that makes it just one rule. I

I deliberately left out any specifics about making one video per day, or anything else. I'm going to keep it simple. We have some family trips planned and outings so in some cases I will be using the scheduling feature on Youtube and on WordPress to cover for days where I can't manually post.

So this is my first video, enjoy! I hope you follow me along on this challenge. You just have to subscribe to my email list, or to my Youtube channel (why not both?), to stay on top of my latest video and blog post. Oh yeah, I got a fancy new intro for my videos, let me know if you like it.

I would love your feedback, you can leave it here as a comment or in the youtube video itself. If you want to find out more about the 100 Day Challenge, then visit this page.

The post 100 Day Challenge Begins Now appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

That's why I do it to save you time and effort. I like to give you options, but I also like to show you the best of the best and save you the headache of using junk. Some people like to give you round-ups of 97 tools that all do the same thing.

That's not me; I'll give you a couple of options and tell you which one works the best. In this case, this is the best tool in its class.

Today I want to show you a tool every single blogger needs. It's called Grammarly. I know it has made me a better blogger and will probably help you as well.

I included it on my Must Have Tools for Bloggers in 2017. And it has become even more ingrained in my daily work-flow.

Grammarly is like a spell checker and grammar checker but on steroids. It is excellent, and it will help you fix your common spelling mistakes, but it will also help you write with more style.

The best part about it? It's free, check it out here. Yes, I upgraded to their premium service because it is that good and it was on sale recently. As you know I don't pay for most of the services for this blog, I usually get them for free, so I can try them out and tell you about them.

Grammarly is one of the few that I paid without a second thought.

Then I was pleasantly surprised to receive my first set of statistics via email. That email is in fact what prompted me to tell you more about it in this blog post. Let's go over those stats for fun:

First, I used it to check a lot of text recently...

You may not need to check that many words, but apparently, I did. And I'm glad I had them checked with Grammarly.

Grammarly tells me about my accuracy.

Ah, but of course Grammarly also likes to stroke my ego. And why not?

But before I get too hung up on that, it takes me back to reality to remind me of the things that I need to work on.

Why do you need Grammarly?

Grammarly because context is everything!

You may think you don't need it. But that's the thing with writing. It's mostly dependent on our bias. Unless you have a professional editor going over all your blog posts and making sure you are using proper grammar and not mistakenly typing "too" for "to" or "their" for "there," you need Grammarly.

Grammarly knows your writing context and will remind you that maybe using "too" is the wrong word this time and it really should be "to" or "two." It also tells you when you use certain words too much and brings in the thesaurus to give you a broader set of options you hadn't thought about.

Because it will save you embarrassment

Grammarly is great for multi-author bloggers. Another reason you need this as a blogger is when you manage other authors, or you accept guest posts. Grammarly has a built-in anti-plagiarism checker, so it saves you the embarrassment of publishing someone else's work disguised as a guest post.

Because it gives you confidence

Many bloggers are hesitant to blog a lot because they feel like they can't write well. Some have English as their second, or even third language and they're not very confident with it yet. Grammarly takes that anxiety out of the question because it will help you with everything I mentioned above.

So far it has been incredibly accurate and useful for me and I've been writing in English for over 20 years.

Go ahead, give it a try, it's free. You'll thank me later.

The post Grammarly Makes Me a Better Blogger, Let Me Tell You Why appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

It tops or matches the famous white chocolate mocha because it's sweet but not overly so and still delivers a good jolt of caffeine to wake you up or give you a little boost. I've been ordering the white chocolate mocha with half of the designated amount of white chocolate syrup because it's just too much.

But the cascara latte is perfect. I'm not a huge fan of most lattes because they tend to be too sweet, but the cascara latte isn't. It's just sweet enough.

So why am I talking about Starbucks on a marketing blog anyway?

I like them most of the time. I'm a romantic and I want to like the small and quaint coffee shops in and around my city, I want to experience "better" coffee as many of my friends put it. But the reality is that most of my experiences with these small coffee shops are shit. They don't hold a candle to Starbucks. So I remain a Starbucks fan. They make my experience enjoyable, consistent, and reliable.

When trenta won't do. #starbucksforlife

A photo posted by Oscar Gonzalez (@notagrouch) on Jan 8, 2017 at 9:26am PST

Then there's the business side of things.

I have been fascinated with Starbucks over the past year, not only because of their coffee but because of their marketing and promotional initiatives. They're a great company to study and learn from in regards to promotions, marketing, and sales.

As far as I can tell,  Starbucks killed it in business during 2016, and they show no sign of slowing down for 2017.

They're constantly adding new items to their menu. This cascara latte is a perfect example. They take their infrastructure and existing ingredients and remix them to create something new. --Something that more businesses should work on regularly-- In the case of the cascara latte, they created a new syrup using the coffee cherry. You can read a little more about that here.

They recently they also added the Nitro Cold brew coffee to their lineup to follow the trends of cold brewed coffee. Starbucks leverages technology like very few companies do.

They try to make coffee different, unique and arguably better, like with their clover coffee brewing system.

Starbucks leverages technology like very few companies do.

I get it, they have the cash to do it, but they didn't just get the cash overnight, Starbucks deliberately and consistently provides customers with value and an enjoyable experience. But here are some of the reasons why I think Starbucks is using technology right.

[bctt tweet="Starbucks deliberately and consistently provides customers with value and an enjoyable experience." username="notagrouch"]

They have a solid mobile app that delivers on its basic promise of letting you order online, it gives you time. But the app has also has increased their sales from 15 - 20%.  It is expected to take over 50% or more of their transactions in the near future. The growth is also largely attributed to their loyalty program.

As a side note, I know that I have been happy with the loyalty program so far, I have over 8 free drinks at my disposal. Over the holidays they kicked it up a notch by gamifying the holidays with their Starbucks for life game, which is a digital version of the McDonald's monopoly game they have been running for a while. And like most chance, monopoly-style games seems and feels a little bit rigged, but I digress.

They have a solid presence in social media, with a good following and engagement tactics on most major networks, like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Twitter and even Linkedin. They even embrace Snapchat.

Over the course of 2014-2016, they deployed wireless charging systems to most of their stores, for the convenience of their customers. We are power hungry and we are wi-fi hungry! After a failed relationship with T-mobile, and AT&T, they seem to finally have found a partner with Google to run one of the best free "public" wifi spots I've used recently.

After a failed relationship with T-mobile, then AT&T, they seem to finally have found a partner with Google to run one of the best free "public" wi-fi spots I've used in recent times.

Their products are mostly consistent throughout their stores and their policies are usually uniform as well. Once in a while, they have a nasty manager or employee, as a recent visit to my local store revealed, but what large corporation doesn't have their bad apple here and there?

https://twitter.com/notagrouch/status/808003240063139840

But before I bore you to death, let me wrap this up.

Overall, Starbucks will continue to grow and will kick ass again this year. Every business owner and entrepreneur should be paying attention. They have so many lessons that we can extract as budding and established entrepreneurs that you could spend an entire year just studying them in depth to get a solid business and marketing education. All for the price of a few cascara lattes each week.

Update couple of days later...

A couple of days later after I published this blog post, I published this video on Youtube to compliment this post, check it out if you'd like and don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel for exclusive video-only content.

The post Starbucks will dominate 2017 and Cascara Latte Review appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

James Spader plays the role of Raymond Redington, a criminal mastermind. Ray's counterpart is FBI special agent Elizabeth Keen, played by Megan Boone. They have great chemistry and the stories on each episode are thrilling and exciting. But I'm getting ahead of myself, and I wish I could tell you more, but anything I tell you about the show would include spoilers.

I don't like to spoil things.

Instead I want to share with you lessons I've picked up from the show that can be easily applied to online marketing and making money online. Today's lesson comes from the first episode, the pilot.

The lesson is straight forward but it escapes almost every marketer I've ever met. That's why most online marketers suck.

Think Like a Criminal

That's the lesson that Raymond Redington gives Elizabeth Keen. Of course, the lesson is metaphoric to online marketing. I don't want you to actually think like a criminal, unless you're trying to sell products to convicted felons.

In this episode, Elizabeth is struggling to crack her first case in the big leagues and for reasons I won't disclose here Ray is assisting her. She's looking for an abducted child.

She's struggling to find clues and make sense of the whole thing. Much like you may be struggling to make your first dollar online, much like you may be struggling to make your first marketing campaign stick.

So Ray tells her she needs to look at this in a different way. She needs to look at this like a criminal. What is in it for the criminal? Why is he doing this? What's in it for him?

Redington operates in the high level criminal world, so it is obvious that the girl that was abducted isn't the goal. The goal is something bigger, she's just leverage, a way to get something else. And this is what Ray is trying to get Elizabeth to see.

Think Like your Customer

Just like in this episode, the lesson is that you have to think like your customer, what does your customer want? why does your customer want that? You have to understand what motivates him or her and why. And then you have to speak their language.

Seems simple enough, but most online marketers struggle with this and instead they try to sell the customer in the features and specs of the product and services. Then the customer just glazes over and gets bored or is left confused with all the sales lingo.

Instead, you have to sell the benefits, you have to fulfill an emotional desire. Purchases are mostly made with an emotional decision, so you have to understand what makes your customer's heart beat.

Imagine you sell websites, consider these two sentences:

Does the website you sell have the latest PHP code, powered by the fastest MySQL database, with a lean load balanced front end?

Or is the website state of the art, provides customers information faster than the competition and will never crash?

The first sentence is trying to sell a website by selling specs and features. The second sentence comes from somebody selling the feeling, the results, the fix to the pain.

So next time you want to sell something, think like a criminal... I mean, like your customer.

The post Think Like a Criminal appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

How do you get people to subscribe to you, leave comments and like your videos. Maybe even share them out to their friends. This video focuses on establishing relationships with other youtubers.

This will help you increase youtube engagement. Just keep in mind that the method and tips described in this video are meant to be a medium to long term play.

Youtube is one of the most trafficked websites in the planet, and many people use it as a search engine to find tutorials, instructions, entertainment and all kinds of other content. I'm sure you've heard this before: Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.

So how can you leverage Youtube for your business or cause?

As far as Internet marketers, bloggers and social media professionals go, I feel that Youtube is underutilized. Not very many people are using it with successful results. I decided to make a short video to help out with some of the basics.

In addition to this video, I also recommend that you take a look at my 7 Power User Tips for Youtube. Soon I'll make new videos explaining other aspects of Youtube and how you can leverage it to make money, promote your brand or help get your message out.

If you have any suggestions for new videos or blogpsots, please leave me a comment with your idea.

Here is the video: Tips to Increase Youtube Engagement

If you have any questions, please leave them below and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I would also appreciate if you could rate this post using the stars at the end of the article, Thank you!

The post Tips To Increase Youtube Engagement appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

This is my nth attempt at doing a vlog series and we'll see if this one works out well. Most of the problems I've had with previous series relate to my own roadblocks. I believe I've eliminated some of those things that stopped me from doign it before and this time around it should work.

The first Vlog is just me spending some time with the kids and the family and I also invite you to learn about internet marketing, I invite you to invest in yourself.

As usual, you can watch it on Youtube on my regular channel or just below:

Without further ado, here's Vlog #1

Don't you think it's time to invest in yourself? You should take step towards achieving financial success. The training program I talk about is only available in limited numbers because it is not your regular online training course. There are coaches that will actually help you along the way so new spots may be unavailable from time to time.

Click here to learn more about the 21 Day Training program.

The post Vlog 1 – Family Time and Internet Marketing appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

But the other problem people have with domains is that never ending quest for the perfect name. Some people will spend weeks or even months coming up with the perfect domain name then they find it's already taken.

In this episode I help you by talking about the thought process of picking a domain. It can be difficult, yes I know but it also shouldn't be as complex as some people make it seem.

Oh, by the way. When you buy a hosting plan from these guys, they give you a domain for free!

The post Driving with Oscar – Episode 6 – Picking a Domain Name appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Theses videos tend to be huge! They are high quality recordings of our Skype interactions and my desktop training session all in one. Most of the time, I use Dropbox or a similar file sharing service so the client or student can download the video of their training session.

But sometimes, file sharing doesn't work exactly as planned. An alternative way of sharing big video files is through Youtube. Technically, I could just share the video in Youtube privately and call it a day but I also would like the client to have a copy of the file for their own offline viewing.

There are some caveats with this method, primarily loss of quality, and privacy. When using this method, the very best version of the video that a client can download will have the quality at 720p. You can read all about video resolution here. The video also must be set to unlisted or public, it cannot be private.

In my case, my videos are always better than 1080p and I would like the client to have that quality. But in a pinch, this may work just to get the file over to the other person so they can start reviewing it.

I also want to put a little disclaimer out there, I don't condone the illegal download of videos, mkay? So don't think that this is for that purpose.

So let's get to it:

How To Download a Youtube Video File

If you are not the owner of the video, find the video you want to download and get the URL for the video.

Copy the URL for the video and open up a new tab or window in your browser.

Visit KeepVid and paste the URL in the box and press the gray download button on the right. This will return a long list of files that you can download as you can see in the screenshot below.

There are other services out there that work simiarly, but this was the only one that didn't try to install some junk in my computer or tried to mislead me in some way or another. The ads can be deceiving sometimes a little which is why I made it very clear where to get your file from.

To get the highest quality file, select the 720p option that I highlighted in the screenshot.

To download, right-click on the link and use the "save as" function. This file ended up being about 900mb, compared to the original 5.6GB file so you can be sure the video file was heavily compressed and also evidently by the 720p limitation, it was scaled down as well.

In the past, Youtube allowed us to download up to 1080, but they removed that option. Who knows if they'll allow it in the future.

What if you are the owner of the youtube video?

If you are the owner of the video, you can download the video directly from the video manager section. Unfortunately the original file is not available, you'll also only be able to download the 720p version of the file.

The only benefit for you as an owner is how simple it is to download the file, and you don't have to go to a 3rd party website to do it.

Go to your video manager section in Youtube, this link will take you there.

Then find the video you want to download. You'll see a dropdown menu available to the side of the video. Clicking on this will reveal many options about your video. To download the file, select Download MP4.

This will not be the full resolution original file, but it saves you the trouble of using a 3rd party site to download the file.

Depending on your specific computer settings, you may or may not be prompted to select a location to save the file and give it a name. If you don't get this option, chances are that the file was just downloaded directly to your downloads folder, it will be titled to match the title of the video in Youtube and not the original file.

You now should have a video file from the youtube file you wanted.

And if you have any problems watching either one of the video files, don't forget to install VLC Media Player, good for any platform and it's free.

The post How To Download a Youtube Video appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Minds is an open source encrypted social network with the ability for you to monetize your content. It's not like anything that is already out there.

For example Tsu tries to pay you a share of the money made with advertisements shown on your content; but nobody is really making money with it and it has become a spam and junk center. I dont think it will survive much longer.

So this is not Tsu, and it's not Facebook, but it has some gamification incentives and a way for you to make money with your content on a P2P basis.

In Minds, I can pay for boosted posts and you can also make deals with individuals to help promote content. You set your price, you call the shots.

Let me give you a quick getting started guide with Minds.com

Please keep in mind, that the site is still in beta so a few things may seem clunky, but it's very promising.

Sign up for an account

You sign up by visiting Minds.com, you don't need to provide any personal information beyond a username of your choice, and your email address. You can also do all this through their mobile app (Android, IOS)

My username is Oscar Gonzalez, feel free to follow me, or as it is called here, subscribe to me.

Customize your profile

The first screen you'll see is your profile and you can edit it by clicking on the pencil icon. You can always get back to this spot by using your profile icon on the top right corner.

You can customize your header banner, your avatar and bio from this page. It's a really elegant interface. The date picker to select your birthday is a little odd, but it's simple enough.

This is what I came up with on the first try, it feels a little similar to Facebook but the whole thing is a lot simpler and cleaner. I really like it.

Getting acquainted with the user interface

The top right corner has a small navigation menu with some neat features. Because the network is fully open sourced, you can actually submit a bug here and it will get looked at. If you are feeling adventurous you can also submit a feature request.

There is also an area where you can review your stats on your boosted content. Unlike Facebook, you can promote your regular posts on your profile so they get more visibility.

The small bell represents any alerts that are new since you checked lasta.

The last icon before your profile, gives you access to your wallet screen. In order for you to boost your content, you need to have credits and this is where your credits show up.

Your avatar button takes you to your profile where you can edit your profile picture, banner picture and bio.

Lastly, the three dots next to your profile open up a few more options. You can logout, adjust your global settings for the site or switch to the old interface.

This is a refreshing experience

The user experience is clean and even though the network is still in Beta, it feels solid. The user interface is clean and elegant and everything is simplified compared to Facebook or Twitter.

When you visit your alerts, you can see everything that has happened recently and you can take action from there.

The first few alerts help you get started with finding new content to explore. And as people find you, you'll be notified here when someone subscribes to you.

There is a gamification element too

This has been the downfall for many networks that have tried it but I think Minds.com has the right idea and execution. Certain actions give you credits which you can then spend to promote your content.

As you join, you'll get about 110 points or so to start. 100 for joining, then you'll get 10 points everyday for a "daily login" and you get one point for voting on someone else's post.

One thing I noticed is that they seem to be breaking the secret rules of social networks. That action which takes the most effort or commitment is, or should be the most valuable. For example, a comment is more valuable than a like, and a share should be more valuable than both comments and likes.

Case in point, if you like someone else's post, you'll get a point. But you will not get a point if you leave a comment, you should get more than one point because this is arguably a more valuable action. It represents more engagement.

After your profile is done, you can start using the site. Here's a quick rundown of what's available.

The action menu

The site features an icon-only action menu on the left hand side and if you're new to the site, the icons may not be intuitive enough for you to just figure it out. Here's a breakdown of what you can find there.

Some of the sections highlighted above have a few sub-menu actions. For example, the blog section lets you view featured blogposts, search for blogposts and create your own.

The blogging section is pretty standard and it has a WYSIWYG interface that works fine. Here is the first blogpost I created with it.

The most compelling features of the site

Social networks come and go, but the need for privacy is increasing and this may just be the best attempt at helping us with that. Minds.com is addressing this in two ways, the chats and the network are encrypted so people can't sniff what you're doing on the site.

The other way to help with privacy is to make the software open source. Developers can read through the code and figure out how things work, there is no hidden algorithm and "secret sauce."

The guys from Diaspora tried this before, but unfortunately a few years later the project is almost dead because it was too disjointed, Minds.com addresses this issue by offering a central location to interact with your connections.

Monetization is important for me and for other people that use social media sites for networking and business, and I really like the model offered by Minds. I acquired about 3000 credits and I will be putting the promoted and boost features to the test over the next week or so. I'll let you know how that goes.

For now, why don't you give it a try. Come join me, explore this new network.

The post Minds The New Social Network appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Shawn Collins is the co-founder of Affiliate Summit and he usually delivers the 1st time orientation session to kick things off at the summit.

Some of the great tips that you can take away from this "session" are pretty simple and sometimes, common sense.

Send a couple of texts to your loved ones to let them know you're missing them because you're going to be busy for the next 3 days. The event is jam packed with sessions and with over 5000 people attending, you should be networking and learning all day long, you are going to be busy!

When you go grab a meal, always try to find someone to eat or drink with. Sometimes you'll create great relationships when sitting down over a meal. Even if you came by yourself, this is a great way to network so don't just go out on your own to grab food and come back.

Get connected to the WiFi, the information is in the agenda.

Use the agenda to plan your days. There is so much to do and the days go fast. Make sure you have a plan of action, set some goals and follow through.

Be present here! Don't spend time on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or Social Media (unless you're posting about the event). You may be tempted to talk about the latest episode of your favorite show, or talk about your sports team, or whatever. But you'd be wasting your time if you did that!

Stay away from the noise and chatter that's not related to the event because in 72 hours or so, you'll be heading home so make sure you take advantage of it while you are here.

The post First Time Orientation at Affiliate Summit appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

The answer is the same for all.

You have to provide valuable content for the readers and you have to promote the forum to the people that will benefit from that content.

Just because you build it, doesn't mean they will come.

If you have loads of cash, you can do what Neil Patel did with his forum when he launched it. Send $5000 cash to each of your friends and ask them to join and participate.

But chances are that paying would not work.

Neil has built some heavy duty social capital by providing huge value. He's built trust and a brand so when it came time to promote his new endeavor it was easy.

That's why he was able to pay for this. He basically paid for his friend's time to help him launch and multiply the trust and recognition on the forum.

But you don't have $50,000 or $100,000 to spend

So you have to go to the basics. The basics will always help you. Provide value. After you think you have provided good valuable content, then do it some more.

Then again. You do this by answering questions and letting the people that asked the questions know you've answered them.

Pay attention!

This isn't rocket science nor is my prescription something that involves a lot of research. It's almost common sense. Look at how people are doing it, do some googling. Ask questions and then follow a guide or tutorial or the steps of someone that has done what you want to do.

Another friend, Matthew Woodward built his reputation this way and now he's got one of the most popular internet marketing blogs and forums.

Matthew simply looked for the people that would be his audience. He found what questions they had by understanding what problems they were facing. Then he would go to his website and answer the question in excruciating detail.

Of course, there are technical steps to doing things correctly, but these are technical, they're methodical and almost trivial. You can just follow best practices, but you have to have value. You have to provide content, solutions, entertainment.

Matthew's answers have been some of the best and people recognize this so they always go back for more. Matthew reportedly spends over 20 hours writing one of his legendary blogposts, sometimes twice that.

He once told me that he simply needs to outwork everyone else and the rest just happens, in other words...

Get off your ass and start working

It doesn't take rocket science, but it takes a lot of effort and consistency to achieve the trust you need to make a website property stand out. You have to do the legwork, you have to put in the time.

If you don't, you simply become like one more website or forum from the billions out there.

Get great content online and then show it to the people that need to see it. Do this and you will be ahead of the curve.

Installing a forum is trivial, starting a blog takes 5 minutes, running updates and changing settings can be done without any real thought.

Creating valuable content is the art and science that will help your forum succeed. As the saying goes content is king.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to promote what you write. Share it in social media, use your email list, tell people about it. You do have an email list right?

[last-modified]

The post How Do I Get Visitors and Traction to my New Forum? appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

But you are not interested in becoming an affiliate, instead, you have a product. You want to get affiliates to sell your product or service. And you wonder, how do you get an affiliate program started so Joe will sell for you?

This is what I am exploring with you today. I guess, the first thing I would ask is not How?, but Why?

Should you start an affiliate program or not?

As with most marketing decisions, starting an affiliate marketing program isn't something to be taken lightly.

I am think that nearly every company, product or service can benefit from an affiliate program, if you deploy and manage it correctly. With that premise, it is easier for me to explain when you should NOT start an affiliate program.

You should NOT start an affiliate program...

Do not start an affiliate program as a way to save your company or as a last-ditch effort to generate revenue . If your company is in trouble and you need money, you need to fix the problems before you introduce a whole new set of complications to your business.

Do not start an affiliate program without sales statistics or brand recognition. If you are new and don't have a brand or endorsements, then most affiliates will want to see some proven conversions and sales before joining your program.

If you don't have these numbers to show, or if they're too low for your industry then your program may lose affiliates' attention quickly and then it can easily stagnate and make it hard to get traction later.

Do not start an affiliate program expecting the affiliates to do your work for you. You need to guide your program with strong direction and leadership. Even though they are selling for you, they are a type of customer to you as well.

Affiliates are a hybrid of employee, customer. You need to have strong communication channels that work for you and the affiliates. You need to give marketing materials, a good infrastructure, and most importantly, motivation and fresh campaigns to promote.

But if you think you are starting a program for the right reasons, then here is a list of a few basic things to keep in mind as you get ready to start your affiliate program.

If you think you are ready to start an affiliate program, then...

Study the best ones and most popular in your industry and overall. Study the networks, study the affiliates, study the competition, study, study, study.

Get yourself an affiliate manager with a decent track record to help you set it all up and maybe even manage it for you. You can find people and agencies that do this. You can attend local meetups and regional or national events to meet them as well.

Get your self to events with other affiliates and affiliate managers. Immerse yourself in the industry and culture so you can better understand how to work more efficiently, and effectively.

Join other affiliate programs as an affiliate and go through the experience. Did you find it enjoyable, inviting, motivating? What would you change in your program? Ask yourself questions to hone in your skills and develop a better program.

Affiliate Summit West is coming up in January and this is perhaps the best event you can attend to learn about all the different aspects of affiliate marketing also known as performance marketing. If you are serious about starting a program for your company then you owe it to yourself the due diligence of attending. Click here to find out more.

The post Should you Start an Affiliate Program? appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

If you want to work from home then you gotta take the leap. There is no reason to continue dealing with a soul-sucking job that takes up so much of your time and gives you a minimal reward.

Working from home is awesome and I highly recommend it. But there are risks, and pitfalls and things you'll learn along the way.

This is another great video that will save you YEARS of experience with a barrage of excellent tips. It's like a compilation of things you forgot about and things you never knew could be a problem.

They also cover some of the best tools you could use to get your work done at home and some of the best productivity tips I've seen.

The post Working at Home. Tips, Hacks and Q&A appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

If you're considering starting an affiliate program for your business or your product then this is recommended viewing.

The Top Five Affiliate Management Myths Debunked.

One of the best takeaways:

If your site is not already primed to convert visitors to buyers, then affiliate traffic will NOT increase your revenue.

The post Top Five Affiliate Management Myths appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I knew the people with negative responses just didn't know mucha about how it works. As I explained before, Affiliate Marketing, Online Marketing and Internet Marketing are just fancy and specialized terms for promotional or performance based sales & commissions. You promote a product that you love, and in return the company rewards you when a new customer signs up.

It's simple and it works. For those of you that are still skeptics, I thought I'd show you the payment I got yesterday. I get these regularly and they are increasing. One of the beauties of internet marketing is that as you create information and share it online, it stays there "forever" so work I did a month, two months or even six months ago continues to generate revenue. Even though I am no longer "working on it."

That's how people make passive income and say that they "make money while they sleep." Anyway, here is a screenshot of one of my payments. This payout equates to about 2 hours of work. Wouldn't you like to make $300/hour?

Trust me, affiliate marketing works. It's not a scam, it requires work but once you get the hang of it, it's easier than you think. Here's the proof.

The post Affiliate Marketing Works. Here’s proof. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

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