I also don't talk about negative interactions often because they usually bring weird vibes in. But there's a lesson to be had in this, so let's look at the silver lining.

He obviously didn't watch my videos about being social before asking for the sale. It didn't go well for him. More after the fold.

The Expanded Commentary

I don't usually put people on blast, and I'm not even doing that here. I withheld this guy's name because everyone makes mistakes. He's young and hungry so there's a chance he will straighten up.

But it's such a turnoff when I get approached like this so I thought I'd share this with you.

Don't be this guy. Don't approach someone pretending to want to be friends when in reality you're trying to pitch a business. Could I be the guy that's 100% wrong about this? Maybe, but a 20 year run of experience at this tells me I'm right.

There's nothing wrong with pitching your business or service or widget. Heck, I do it all the time! There are a couple of ways you can do that and I talk about that below.

But the issue comes in when you pretend like you're just making a connection so that we can help each other and you start dropping my friends' names as if you actually know them.

It's also cringy when you start using bullshit terminology and phrases like: "I'm glad to find a local brother" or "mutually fruitful relationship." I don't want to put up all the screenshots, but here's one piece of the conversation.

But in fact, you have no intention of actually helping my business, or helping me with any of my immediate problems in any way shape or form.

It's like going out on a date

Think about the dating world, you go out to a singles event and you see someone across the room; they were just talking to someone you know. You decide to approach them and introduce yourself, then when they are polite and introduce themselves back. Good right!? But then 2 minutes later you ask them to marry you.

Do you think that would work? Fuck no.

Take your time, truly develop a relationship. Offer something of help without asking for something in return first.

Give it time. If you do it right, the opening to talk about whatever service or business you're offering will work itself naturally. It might take 20 minutes, it might take 2 weeks. It might take a year. But your character will shine, and if you're in business for the right reasons, you understand the long term play.

If you must, just come out directly and say something like:

Hey, my name is such and such and I offer this service. I thought based on some of the stuff I saw on your profile you may be interested, would you have a few minutes to chat about it?

Do NOT name drop, pretending you know my friends.

That doesn't win you anything. And be honest and upfront about it. Drop the act. It's 2019, we can see right through it. Also, notice the little bit I added about "stuff I saw on your profile" take a few minutes to at least find something to chat about other than "where are you from?" or "what do you do?" etc... That's all in our profiles.

In the video, I mentioned a couple of other videos, here are those videos:

• Ask for the sale (only) after this
• One way to spot a scammer on Facebook

Okay, that's it for this post. Do you agree? disagree? Have you had this happen before? Let me know in the comments. I'd love to know your story.

The post Don’t Get Butthurt Because Your Pitch Sucks. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

But I had forgotten about this cool gadget I ordered over a year ago. The Switchpod. Check it out in the video, I did a quick impromptu unboxing.

Switchpod Tripod Unboxing & Discount Code

I also have a discount code or coupon code that will save you $10.00 as long as you order yours before the end of 2019.

Get the Switchpod here:
http://oglink.it/switchpod

The discount code, or coupon, whatever you want to call is good for $10.00 off, and good until the end of 2019. This would make a great gift for your favorite vlogger! Let me know in the comments if it worked for you.
Code: Maketheswitch

Don't want to buy one? Win a Switchpod!

The post Switchpod Unboxing + Discount Code appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Having a secured site is important even if you aren't selling or collecting data. By secured, in this context, we're talking just about the identity of the site being secured by using SSL.

Google cares, so... get on it. If you don't you could be left behind.

Here's Neil Patel's take on it.  Business.com says this about the whole SSL discussion. SSL and https have been a ranking factor since 2014, and increasing in importance ever since.

We didn't cover it in the video, but most modern and reputable hosting systems offer new and FREE SSL certificates. Let's Encrypt, Comodo, and a few others are some of the options out there that provide free SSL certificates (this blog post has a good list).

Hint, hint, if I haven't made it clear enough yet, you need SSL on your website. No longer is customer data a requirement for SSL, but now it's just a basic SEO ranking factor.

Check your own web hosting dashboard to request your free SSL and get it installed. If you don't see it or if it isn't obvious, chat with your support rep to get an answer.

However, if your host isn't helping here are some options for hosts that support free SSL options and I highly recommend:

Other hosts that offer free, point and click SSL certificate setup:
http://oglink.it/greengeeks (environmentally friendly) *
http://oglink.it/wpengine (white glove treatment) **
http://oglink.it/liquidweb (truly outstanding support) **
http://oglink.it/hostgator (tried and true, has something for everybody)

I put asterisks next to the ones I recommend the most. More asterisks means I recommend it more, but in any case here's the video:

Here's the video:

The post You MUST Do this for your WordPress Site. SSL Certificates — This Week with John and Oscar appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

In a short video (below) I took a moment to answer this question which comes up regularly. It applies to moms as well, so technically it's good for WAHD and WAHMs.

When you read it or watch the video, you'll think it's obvious and simple, even trivial.

But I think this small aspect is critical if you want to succeed with a home or online business AND also raise kids without putting them on the care of strangers.

As a quick side note, I pass no judgment if you have to leave your kids with babysitter services, or even regular daycare.

I know, as a parent you gotta do what you have to do, but all things considered, I think it's always better if I am with my kids whenever they're not at school. Call me old-fashioned if you wish.

But if you think this is a simple and obvious tip, watch the video and also read the entire blog post. I think you may reconsider after you absorb everything.

Simple, yet powerful.

Also as a side note and quick disclaimer. Someone I know and admire runs her entire life from a regular, pen-and-paper calendar system and it works amazing for her.

So whatever works for you, that is what you should do, but as you'll see in the video and read below, I prefer a digital option.

The option is yours, simply be true to yourself and use what works best for you.

How Can You Do It? Tips for Time Management for SAHD & WAHD and SAHM & WAHM.

You can start simply with a good calendar app.

I recommend Google Calendar, but since we're talking about using it for business then use the G-suite version instead of just the free Gmail version. Here's a link to a free trial.

Update (2021-07-19) After numerous negative experiences with Mailchimp, I no longer recommend it. Yes, they're still one of the leading email marketing service providers, but the headaches and heartaches that come with it just completely removed it from the options I think you should consider.

This lets you use a professional email address when using your calendar.

Using a professional email address when you invite customers or leads to an appointment will look more professional than if you use a free Gmail account.

Also, you can use the free trial link, but after the trial, you'll need to pay for the service. When you pay for a service like this, it helps you to commit and solidify it as a critical part of your infrastructure and thus helps you do everything better.

It's a psychological hack. It should help you think that you have to use it, since you're paying for it. And this helps create a full loop.

Use the calendar to do better, do better and make more money because of your calendar, rinse and repeat.

A Few Other Tips

In addition to the main calendar where I keep my appointments and commitments to my family, I use a few other tools worth mentioning.

Mobile notifications

My mobile device alerts and notifications are critical. Make sure your phone alerts you of upcoming appointments ahead of time.

To make sure this works and nothing falls through the cracks, I set my calendar to remind me of upcoming appointments using the free Zedge notification app to customize the sound.

You're going to laugh at me, but I literally have the "Trollolololol song" as my calendar appointment reminder notification sound. Keeping things interesting and fun right? -- Not the whole thing, just like an 8-second clip, you'll find it on Zedge. ?

Using the new notifications control panel for my Android device lets me get really granular with notifications so I get notified by sound and don't even have to look at my screen sometimes to know what's coming up.

I set up multiple notifications for every appointment, by default with the following list of notifications are set:

• 1 day in advance
• 4 hours in advance
• 30 minutes in advance
• 5 minutes in advance

I adjust these four different notifications on a case by case basis for each event that makes it into the calendar.

For example, sometimes I may need more than 1-day notice for an event, and other times I don't need to be reminded more than once.

Remove Myself From the Equation

Sometimes managing the calendar in and of itself is a chore, I try to automate as much of that as possible. I have a system configured to minimize my time spent managing the calendar.

For client appointments, I use Calendly.

This way if I'm working with a lead, I send them a special link where they can book an appointment with me.

For most people, the free version of Calendly works just fine. Connect it to your Google calendar, set your rules of availability and you're ready to roll!

The Calendly system is based on settings I set in advance and also on my current availability. This prevents the usual back and forth series of emails trying to find a time that is convenient for both parties; they just find an open slot that works for them and automatically pencil themselves into my calendar.

I get notified and the appointment system will then remind me of the appointment as needed using the four notifications I mentioned earlier.

For Family Events Use the Shared Calendar Feature

In order to coordinate with family members, we all have our private calendars but we share availability with each other.

You can also do this within the settings of your calendar, or you can create a shared calendar for everyone that needs to participate.

We know what times are available, which times we're together for an event, and we can easily invite each other for future events.

For Social Events I Automatically Add Them to My Calendar

If you like to attend a lot of different events and have to deal with different websites to see your agendas, it is very useful to get all of those calendars to work in your Google calendar.

Meetup.com, Facebook events, EventBrite, and other types of calendars can automatically show up in your google calendar. Take a moment to search for instructions for your particular need and you'll find ways to get those appointments to show up in your own Google calendar.

I have this for my active Meetup.com events, and Facebook events. This way when I commit to an event in Facebook, or Meetup.com it automatically gets added to my calendar so I don't double-book myself with personal or professional activities.

If for some reason, you can't find instructions to connect a specific calendar to your Google calendar, you can try an app like IFTTT or Zapier to help you integrate new appointments with your calendar.

In Conclusion

This is a short video where I talk about how to run a business from home and raise kids at the same time.

I recommend getting a good calendar that works with you and for you. The last thing you want is to add more work to your daily life so take advantage of the technologies available.

This is just one aspect of managing the entrepreneur lifestyle while raising kids, but it's a big part of staying productive and maximizing efficiency.

Keep Your Eye on The Prize

Keep an eye on your desired outcome. For example for me it's imagining something like the scene below. Total relaxation, everything at peace. With a calendar in order, this is one step closer to reality than a distant dream.

In a future blog post and video, I'll cover other aspects talking about other productivity tips, including more automation, task management, time tracking and keeping a log of activity.

The post WAHD, Running a Business and Raising Kids. But How? appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

You may be wondering, a year later after Sean dropped that video. Should I get it if I want to vlog with it?

Watch the video to hear what I think about it and how I got my hands on one of these for about $100 less than regular retail price.

The company I got it from is eGlobal Central. Some people have had less than stellar experiences with them, but my experience was flawless and my friend’s also.

A couple of friends have spent over $ 4,000 with them in various electronics and gadgets without a problem. But the general recommendation is to use Paypal or a good credit card so you have buyers’ protection just in case something goes wrong.

My camera took about 12 days to arrive. I expected that it would take two weeks so 12 days was just about right. 

If you are skeptical of using eGlobal Central, I understand and I don't blame you. I have found this same camera in Amazon for a little cheaper than retail, check it out here for the latest price.

Here's the video: Canon EOS 800D or Rebel 7ti as a Vlogging Camera 

The post About my New New Vlogging Camera, the EOS 800D AKA Rebel T7i appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I took the kids after school one day to see what was up with them since I hadn't been there in a year, maybe two.

This is what happened during this new #foodieadventure.

There's a reason I haven't been to Bruxie in a while. Or rather, several reasons, only one of those reasons has changed now.

A few years ago Bruxie started to change. I'm not sure if they went through some growing pains, but the quality of the food went down, prices went up and the part that made Bruxie awesome kinda lost its appeal.

I can't quite pinpoint what appeal I'm referring to, but it was gone.

This time around, the food was amazing. I ordered the B.A.M.F. and got the kids some chicken tenders with Bruxie's waffle fries. Check out how everything turned out in the video.

The thing that changed was the quality of the food. I only have tried the B.A.M.F. and what they were serving at Taste of Huntington Beach the other day.

But I can say that the taste and quality are back, that's undisputable. The price, still a problem. Maybe it's just part of growing up, but $30 for 1 "grown-up" meal and one "side order" seems steep.

The post The B.A.M.F. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

We meet weekly to talk about all things related to online marketing, and digital marketing.

We've also been doing this little weekly recap of stuff that hit our radar. This week we responded to a troll, and John roasted the Riverside Cars & Coffee meetup.

What do crazy liberals and the movie Bird Box have in common? Yeah, we covered that too.

Join us in person at the next Dot Com Lunch meetup in Irvine. RSVP here.

The post Dot Com Lunch – This Week with John and Oscar appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

This is a short video I made of Surf City Flags, when I went to the last Taste of Huntington Beach event. Surf City Flags make custom flags out of wood and some have a secret compartment to store valuables.

The flags with the secret compartments are called "concealment" flags. You can see them all on their website.

Surf City Flags - Beautiful handcrafted wooden flags made in Surf City Huntington Beach, California.

Quick reminder, Taste of Huntington Beach is coming up soon, there are only a few days left to get your early-bird tickets. Go to TasteHB.com for tickets and more info.

And in case you ever thought "hmmm, I wonder how I can get my hands on a 7 ft wooden flag..." Well, here's how:

The post Surf City Flags at the Taste of Huntington Beach appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

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.

A couple of viewers and some people in Meetup have asked me why don't I get anything else besides pho when we go to our Dot Com Lunch.

But we actually try a lot of different places and dishes. Make sure you're part of the meetup if you want to join in our next meetup.

We've been to Happy Dining, and Mai Thai and a few others I haven't reviewed yet. Just join the meetup and we'll keep you posted of new events and locations. But in this day, I tried something besides the pho.

In this Dot Com Lunch video, we also talk a little bit about the minimum wage hike in California and generally just have a good meal.

My Review of the Crispy Noodles with Sea Food (Mì Xào Giòn)

This time around, I tried something besides Pho. This looked attractive and I don't recall having it in recent years. Maybe 4 or 5 years ago.

This dish is too mild for my taste, I had to add a dash of chili and a little bit more cilantro, but once I took care of that, the dish was perfect.

I would get this again if I was looking for a healthy light dish with bok choi and seafood.

And tiny little corns. It had some of those. That's a thing in some Vietnamese dishes, really.

It was nice eating some of the noodles while they were crispy and crunchy, but later on, some had been soaking in the sauce and gave them a nice bite but weren't crunchy anymore. I guess this is what you hope for with this dish.

That was a nice contrast. This dish is different. Good, but different. I'd recommend it to anybody that wants to try something new and wants to go with some seafood.

I think a couple pieces of shrimp would have made this a perfect dish, but I can't complain.

The post Pho Ba Co Review – Crispy Noodles With Seafood (Mì Xào Giòn) appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

There are 30 bonus interviews with a workbook each where you can get started. Then when the challenge kicks off, the daily tasks and assignments will be released.

In the meantime, I thought about the things I need to do to set my mindset in the right place. I want to focus on important stuff for the challenge.

Today's current political climate sometimes makes that difficult, so here's my new take on that, in the video.

Do you agree with my perspective? why, or why not?

If you want to join the challenge, then you can join using this link. Or click here to watch my previous video about how to join, what to expect, and see me going through the registration process, go here on Youtube.

I tried to show how it works and some thoughts I had during the enrollment process, all in the video.

The challenge comes with a package so I recommend you enroll soon so you get that stuff right away and have it ready when the challenge starts. Instead of waiting for it to arrive after the challenge starts. Remember, February 25.

In any case, here's my video about Politics, Business, and IGA.

You do know what IGA is right? 

Mixing Political Opinions With Business

The post IGA over Politics – Discussing Politics in Social Media. 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.

This place was a total surprise for me. Marcie, one of my #ocfoodies friend said it was good, but I didn't expect it to be this good, I got caught up in the food so much I forgot to take pictures and b-roll.

I still managed to make a video so that's what is here today, check it out below the review.

My review of Mai Thai.

I was in a bit of a rush so I didn't get to take it all in. With that said, I thought this was the best Thai food I've had in a long time.

In my own personal best of the best restaurant battles, Mai Thai is a contender for the number one spot for Thai food in Orange County.

Someone asked me where the best Thai food is around here, and I had a tough time picking between Mai Thai and Vientiane Lao Thai in Westminster. I haven't reviewed Vientiane on the blog or video yet, but it's really good.

So it's a tough call, but we can also say that they are both #1 in their own style.

Mai Thai is traditionally Thai as far as I can tell, while Vientiane Lao Thai has a lot of Laos influence and may even be considered more Laos than Thai.

But if we start getting into that level of detail, we have to bring in the Malaysian influence and then the Chinese influence in Thai food, so for now, we'll leave it at that.

Plus you'll easily see and find out I have no idea what I'm talking about.  So there, both are number 1.

If you had asked me the same question, where is the best Thai food in Orange County? just a day before I tried Mai Thai, I would have known the answer right away.

Now I would have to really think about it, Mai Thai is up there, waiting for me to try a few more dishes before I declare it a winner.

Now back to Mai Thai's food.

Oh yeah, you'll find Mai Thai in Fountain Valley, two minutes from the Brookhurst exit off the 405 freeway.  (map link).

I ordered beef Panang curry and the Tom Kha Gai soup (coconut soup with chicken). I think that these are considered some of the most popular Thai dishes besides Pad Thai. Photos by @MarcieTaylor.

The curry was just pungent enough and not oversalted. It's easy to oversalt it but they nailed the flavor perfectly. I ordered it medium spicy, or "level 4-5" and it was hot but edible. Left just a tingle of spiciness on my lips.

The soup was outstanding and I'd go back for more in a heartbeat. Tangy and lemony, --I thought I was making up the word lemony, but apparently not. Grammarly says it's a word.-- with enough sweetness from the coconut milk and enough spiciness to keep you in check.

Another item that won my heart over was the little egg rolls. They came in the appetizer sampler dish, and they were just amazing.

I can't believe I'm raving about eggrolls, but they were delicious. The filling wasn't just mushy overcooked "stuff" and it had a perfectly seasoned garlic-infused medley of veggies and bean sprouts. I wanted more!

I will definitely be back for more soon. While I think that Thai Avenue has the best pad thai I've had, Mai Thai has the best overall Thai food I think so I recommend you definitely check it out.

Mai Thai in Fountain Valley

The post Mai Thai Review – Thai in Fountain Valley appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

The premise of this challenge is that you're just 1 funnel away from achieving amazing results. It could be 1 funnel that makes all the difference, so I decided to start this challenge.

The challenge starts on February 25.

I'm taking the challenge and inviting you to join me. This should be an amazing opportunity to get personalized coaching and support while participating in each daily task.

I'll be active each day as soon as the challenge starts, this is your chance to join me and a group of entrepreneurs making a big difference in our businesses and our lives. Once you join, you'll be granted access to the private group where we are starting to know each other and getting ready to start in a few days.

Come join me! Here is my video inviting you and showing you how to join.

Click this link to join the 30 day One Funnel Away challenge here.

Join the challenge on this link:

https://notagrouch.com/1funnel

The post One Funnel Away 30 Day Challenge. A 30 Day Internet Marketing Challenge for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Every time I go to it, it blows my expectations out of the water. Here's a quick announcement from one of the organizers of the event, Marcie Taylor from Surfcityfamily.com

Taste of HB attracts some of the best foods from Huntington Beach and surrounding areas. You'll find tons of restaurants, craft beer & liquor, as well as some other businesses.

My favorite non-food vendor from last year was Surf City Flags. I have a video about them coming up soon, by the way so watch for that.

The festival is going on its 19th consecutive year. It is put together for the benefit of the Children's library. The event is held from noon to 4 pm, with an exclusive VIP reception from 11am-12 noon.

You can get tickets on their website, or at the library and they're worth every penny. In full disclosure, I get to cover the event as media so I'm usually invited but the value you get from that single ticket is outstanding.

At the time of this writing, early bird pricing is available and should be until March 1st.

My previous coverage of the event is here, have a look. But I warn you, some of this will make you hungry.

Taste of Huntington Beach 2018

Taste of Huntington Beach 2016

The post Taste of Huntington Beach 2019 is Around The Corner appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

As I worked on that video and did some research, I found that beanie babies aren't something that you can make money from anymore. Unless you have one of the really really really rare ones then you're not likely to make any money.

Some of the ones you see in the video sell for as high as $4.99! And that's only if they're new.

Remember when the beanie babies craze was going on? People were spending hundreds of dollars looking for the "good ones" and then selling them for thousands. It reminds me of that PBS documentary The Botany of Desire. I recommend you watch it if you get a chance. It's interesting to see how things are valued depending on human desire and context.

To find the really rare beanie babies, you need to be a collector, a serious collector. Besides that, the rare ones aren't just the limited edition TY beanie babies, they are the ones that were limited edition AND have a defect.

For example, I found that one of the angel-looking ones, I think is called "Halo" can be worth a few hundred dollars, if and only if you have the one that came with a brown nose instead of the regular black nose.

Yeah, good luck finding one of those. Nonetheless, it was interesting going through the bin of stuff I found.

So it turns out, at the end of the day most of these were junk. A few worked out great as toys for Picasso and my kids wanted to keep a few of them. I guess I don't have a million dollar find in my attic this time around.

The post Found a Cash Cow! Can You Even Make Money From Beanie Babies? appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

From the official Taste of Huntington Beach website:

Featuring delectable tastes from local restaurants and catering companies. Add in unlimited sips from your favorite wineries and breweries, along with live entertainment by The Ramsey Brothers Band for your listening and dancing enjoyment – and you have the perfect mix for a great day of food, fun, and friends!

All proceeds go to the Children's library of Huntington Beach.

Taste of Huntington Beach is a fun event. I think you should go to if you're in Southern California and especially in Huntington Beach and surrounding cities. I know people come all the way from Riverside County, Santa Barbara, and even San Diego.

It is a single day event. I wish it were a 2-day event, and I think many people feel the same way. The primary reason I wish it were two days is that you simply don't have the time or a big enough stomach to try everything. There's so much food!

Every time I go, I come out stuffed like if I had gone to an all you can eat buffet in Las Vegas after a 20 day fast.

I had a chance to talk to the organizer and one of the requirements is that each vendor that participates must have at least 2000 servings. If memory serves me right, there were over 50 food vendors last time so there is tons of food to go around.

As you'll see in the video, these aren't tiny samples either. Many servings are big enough to be considered appetizer size and in some cases, you get a huge portion. Not to mention, the tastings are unlimited so you can come back for seconds, thirds, or more.

Another fun thing about it is that they also serve alcohol. You'll find local wineries, breweries, and distilleries serving their best.

I highly recommend you check them out. I believe they still have their early bird tickets available right now. So go get some!

Taste of Huntington Beach will take place on April 28 from noon to 4:00 pm.

I also covered this before, here's another video for the Taste of Huntington Beach 2016.

The post Taste of Huntington Beach appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

We're doing another prologued fast next month and many of the members are doing intermittent fasting on a regular basis. The group is there to talk about fasting and to support each other and help each other find information, hold each other accountable and stuff like that.

Our fasting group if you want to join, Let's Fast!

The post 5 Tips for Prolonged fasting. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

We often write reviews or make complaints when something bothers us or someone did us "wrong." To close out 2018, I decided to give a shoutout to someone at Starbucks that sometimes helps my day get started on a good note.

I even sent the commendation to the higher-ups at Starbucks telling them to give this guy a raise or something. They ended up talking to me on Twitter DM about it. I don't know what happened with that but hopefully something good.

Thanks for all the likes, views & comments. See you in 2019!

The post Last Shoutout for 2018 appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

You probably disagree with the statement about because shooting, editing and producing a video seems like a lot of work. And you'd be right, but if you look past that initial investment in time and effort you'll notice that a video can be reused many times over.

A video can be transcribed for search engine benefits. A video can be split into shorter highlights for Instagram or Twitter. A video can be uploaded to more sites than Youtube. A video can help you retain viewership on your blog longer. There are a half dozen other good reasons to start a piece of content with a video so that's what I've been doing.

I've been teaching this principle for years, but only recently did I start putting it into practice for my own stuff. As you can see on my blog, many of my recent blog posts are based on a video.

I made this short video to thank all of you that have subscribed and helped me reach 1500 subscribers. Although it is not a big number, I'm thankful and grateful for each one of you.

Thank You!

I also talked a little bit about getting old and all the youth wasted in the young. Even if it's late for the blog. If you aren't a subscriber, you can just hit the subscribe button directly below this video, or head over to my channel and subscribe there.

The post 1500 Youtube Subscribers! appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

If you didn't know, Kevin Hart was going to host the Oscars in 2019. But as his luck would have it and as it's customary for social justice warriors, some old tweets of his were dug up.

This is happening more and more with not only celebrities but with common people like you and me. It seems like we can't go a week without someone getting fired, expelled, excommunicated and or forced to apologize for old thoughts, old comments or like in the case of Kevin Hart, old tweets.

This is happening at an alarming rate. People are in fear now of saying the wrong thing, of looking the wrong way, of laughing at the wrong joke. In fact, even I'm considering some protections for that and I started deleting all my old tweets. More on that later, but we simply can't trust people to do the right thing, to be noble and moral and to mind their own business.

Have we gotten to the point where our egos are so fragile that a joke is so offensive that we're willing to destroy someone's life over it? Is that the next way to fulfill our life's desires?

I mean, WTF.

So back to Kevin's story. So, someone dug up the tweets from Kevin and brought them to light. His "team" as he describes on an Instagram post told him that the world was upset about the tweets and he responded with this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrEFNFalWgw/

The Academy then contacted Kevin and asked him to apologize or they'd have to give the host role to someone else.

As I was following the whole drama with these old tweets and Kevin Hart, I was so happy that he posted a response. His initial response was to tell the Academy that he wasn't going to apologize, that the tweets had been addressed and that if they wanted to pull the gig then to go for it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrEjHFCFe83/

As a side note, who cares about the Oscars anyway? They're a dying show, with dramatically dwindling viewership over the past several years.

This made me so happy. Finally, someone standing up to the outrage culture movement.

But then... then, that's where my video takes over.

To Kevin, if you ever read this. Man, you should not have apologized. You should not have apologized.

The post Kevin Hart and The Oscars Controversy appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

He shared a little-known trick about getting your book into Barnes & Noble stores and didn't mind me capturing it on video for you.

As with anything like this, YMMV. Obviously, your book is going to have to be good and desirable and all that good stuff.

Then I also wonder if you do it correctly how many big box stores could you sneak your way into with other products, not just books?

It would only work with small items because it would be difficult to sneak a lot of them in.

But anyway, here's the video

How to Get Your Book into Barnes & Noble Video

Errm... we'll call this the quick, not-guaranteed, probably-will-not-work, legit-but-not, red tape-less, jump-the-line, method to get your self-published book into the big bookstore.

Years ago, I had heard of a similar trick to get promotion and visibility but it didn't really aim at getting picked up by Barnes & Noble or even other retailers.

The trick was to bring your own books in a backpack or a duffel bag when you go to the airport, for example, and where you see books and magazines, and just pop your books in there.

If you designed a great cover and your book looks good, if it is attractive then it will sell.

Granted, won't see any money from the sale of the books but you'll gain new readers hopefully. The book might cost you $3-10 to print so it could be a fair price for a new name on your list.

The cashier will just manually ring up the book. If the book doesn't come up then they'll just charge the customer the price listed in the cover.

If their system is more sophisticated they might put it into the database.

My buddy called it reverse theft, lol.

Since you most likely will not receive any money from the sale, your only benefit will be having a new reader and the opportunity for you to put a great offer in front of your new reader.

So make sure you've set up your incentives, multiple tier funnels and email list ready for action when you do something like this.

Since Affiliate Summit West is coming up soon, I thought I'd share this with you. A good reminder of the value that Affiliate Summit has to offer.

Even out of sessions, you'll learn little tips and tricks that can be worth the price of attendance.

The post How to Get Your Book into Barnes & Noble appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

In this video, I give you the basics of using OIO Publisher to create ad zones and ads for your blog. This plugin is a staple on almost every blogger that monetizes their blog.

OIO Publisher allows you to create ads of any size, custom ad opportunities, text links, and sponsored posts. And you can sell the ad spaces and sponsored posts automatically.

As I mention in the video, you can create any type of banner ad, of any size for any section of your blog and it's really easy to do. I show it step by step in the tutorial.

The video may seem long but I address a few important topics related to your monetization strategy as well as some questions and feedback. From the previous video and I broke down the timecodes in case you want to skip around.

During both parts of the video, the driving part and the tutorial I cover two methods you can use monetize your blog, including a hands-on WordPress tutorial on how to do it.

One thing I didn't mention in the video is that you can use the code area to insert your Adsense ads or Media.net ads or another type of ad codes as well.

Links and references:

• OIO Publisher - Get it here.
• Adsanity - Not shown but mentioned, get it here. Will cover in a future blog post.

Monetizing your blog with content and OIO Publisher

There is a timecode table below the video if you want to skip to certain areas.

Timecodes:

0:00 to 2:00 - Recap and follow up to video about how much to start your affiliate business. (https://notagrouch.com/how-much-do-i-need-to-start-an-affiliate-marketing-business/ )

2:00 - Two methods to make money with your blog.

3:15 - First method.

4:20 - Sourcing new content.

6:15 - Doing reviews with a low budget.

8:15 - Getting products for free

8:24 - Disclosure with the FTC - I'm watching ya guys.

9:25 - The review policy for free stuff.

11:03 - Method 2

12:03 - OIO Publisher - Get it here.

14:15 - Tutorial start, install and basic OIO Publisher configuration.

17:35 - Adzones and banners.

20:11 - Adding media for an ad.

20:39 - Add a banner section to the sidebar (widget area)

23:00 - Getting an affiliate link and banner from Shareasale ( http://oglink.it/shareasale-youtube )

25:13 - Adding an ad using HTML (or Javascript, or PHP) code.

26:50 - Adding an ad using image and link.

29:55 - Creating your own advertisement ad.

31:00 - Inline ads for every post.

32:00 - Define your own ads.

The post Introduction to OIO Publisher and Two Methods to Monetize Your Blog appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Sometimes the fear is really unfounded because these same people don't really investigate the true costs of starting an online business.

And before they even start, they extinguish their business.

In this short video, I explain what you *need* to start an affiliate marketing business online.

The good news is that starting an affiliate marketing business, and many other online businesses, the start-up costs are small. In some cases, the cost can be zero. That's what this video is about today.

How Much Does it Cost To Start an Affiliate Marketing Business?

The basics to start an affiliate marketing business are as follows:

#1 Website (hosting & domain)

This amount is generally for one to two years, $60-$120. If you want to learn more about web hosting, I have this blog post here that might help.

Get hosting through Inmotion Hosting here and receive up to 50% off your first invoice. And you get a domain for free, or a free transfer if you already have a domain.

#2 Email marketing

This ranges from $0 to $20/month approximately.

Get email marketing services through Aweber here and get 30 days for free. I think in the video I mentioned you could do email marketing for free. And you can, although I don't recommend it for a couple of reasons.

You may want to try Mailchimp if you really can't afford $20/month for Aweber. ** If you really want to know why I advise against using free email services, you can read this post and watch this video.

The next steps are basically free, just take some of your time and effort.

#3 Start producing content and build your email list and email sequence. Free.

Publish content to your website and or blog and start an email sequence. The email sequence should introduce your subscribers to you and to your vision. It should also explain what to expect in future emails. The sequence can be a few days or a few weeks long.

An easy way to tackle this part is to answer all the "About" related questions in several blog posts. These blog posts then become the email that you send to your list as you introduce yourself and eventually you'll be sharing the current blog post instead of the introductory sequence.

#4 Find products to promote. Free

To find products you can promote, you can start with some affiliate networks, here are three easy sites to work with: Shareasale, Peerfly, and Refersion.

These are free to join and you can browse through the various offers and see if any of them would be a match for your blog or website.

There are another dozen I could list, but that's a good start. Also good to get familiar with the concept of an affiliate network.

If you don't see a product or service you like inside those networks, you can also go to your favorite product or service and see if they offer a rewards or affiliate program section.

Sometimes they have it under sections titled "work with us" or "earn money" or "webmasters" if you don't see it on their own website, then do a web search for "Brand-name +Affiliate Program" where brand-name is whatever brand you're looking for.

Sometimes the affiliate program is run through a network like the ones I shared above or something like CJ.com and many others but the search I gave you above should find it for you.

If you don't see it, then maybe they just don't have one.

For physical products, if you can't find it on a network or directly through the manufacturer, one last resort tends to be Amazon, they have most of the products available for sale also available through their affiliate program.

That is also free to join and you'll find it under Amazon associates. Sign up, then you'll be able to search for any product and get your own affiliate link to share on your blog articles and monetize it that way.

Please note that in a few cases, you may need to own the product you want to promote. This is especially true with software, or web tools. I just wanted to note that because I make a point on this section to say "Find products to promote. Free" so I want to make it clear, you can always promote products for free without paying for fees or memberships.

But there are some cases where an affiliate program is only open to active members or owners of the product, for example, Leadpages.

#5 Work Your Butt Off. Free.

The start-up cost is small, but your effort needs to be big. Constant, and relentless. Even when you face major setbacks that make you want to quit, you must be committed to publishing, on time and consistently.

The post How Much Do I need To Start an Affiliate Marketing Business? appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

It all depends on the response this video gets, but I know suicide is definitely a taboo topic.

I couldn't add the word in the Youtube video description for fear that Youtube might penalize the video. Tubebuddy extension suggested that it may hurt my monetization options.

And my fears are not unfounded. It's not just the warning from Tubebuddy. We see censorship and demonetization on Youtube daily.

This video is for my friends and those of you in business. Believe me, the struggle is real. The struggle is lonely, but you've got options, and not just one.

The post Shhh… We Don’t Talk About it –Taboo Topic in Business appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

So what would be my feedback to you as a 20-something life coach?

Today's video is about that.

The post Tell Me About Being a Life Coach appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

During the cruise, we had a great time learning about all the points of interest around the bay. We also got to see some of the NAVY ships stationed there alongside with some from our partner countries.

Really interesting stuff. I highly recommend you take a tour with them. The narration is informative and funny too.

We took the 2-hour bay cruise and it was great.

Although it was a gift for us, For the price, it's worth it. The two-hour cruise ends up being about 2 hours and 15 or 20 minutes because they go back after the 1st hour to drop off some passengers that are on the 1-hour tour and pick up new passengers to go for another 1-hour tour.

That was the only turnoff, but I guess it's necessary since the 2-hour cruise may not be for everyone so they split it into two 1-hour cruises, one that goes "north" and one goes "south."

The ship we went on has 3 levels, I think it's called the Spirit of San Diego. I think the top level provides the most scenic experience but there is no cover from the weather if it's sunny, windy or rainy.

It was sunny and windy when I went so we stayed on the 2nd level. They have a lot of tables so you should be able to find a place to sit with your party. But you can explore the ship throughout the cruise.

They have a pay as you go bar where you'll find some wine and beer as well as simple snacks.

Nothing to write home about, but the pricing is right. I wish they served something a little more elaborate but can't really complain and you can bring your own food if you want (I'm pretty sure).

After we got settled in, we left the docks and headed for the tour. All was great and the captain and crew narrate, pointing out all the various points of interest as you cruise along the bay.

It's fun and was worth it, especially with all the historical tidbits exploring the deep and complex culture of the area.

Here's the video, it's short and just the highlights of the cruise. I recommend it if you've never been. I hear they have evening dinner cruises as well, so I might try that another time.

Photos from the day aboard Flagship Cruises' Spirit of San Diego.

Flagship Cruises 2-hour San Diego Bay Cruise

[envira-gallery id="52207"]

The post Cruising Around the San Diego Bay appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

We have done four episodes and we are settling into a schedule. As of right now, we have scheduled Tuesday nights and you can join our group to get the episodes live.

We're also working on getting our Youtube channel up as well as developing our Facebook page.

Our first episode kicked off and we talked about AHA! moments in online entrepreneurship and affiliate marketing. The whole thing was a play on words with the content and the title. AHA Talks stands for After Hours Affiliate Talks, but episode 1 was literally about those "aha! moments" that we have as entrepreneurs and affiliate marketers.

Join our Facebook group here to catch the live shows, replays, and ask questions and learn more about affiliate marketing.
https://notagrouch.com/night/

The post AHA Moments Announcement appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Have you ever stumbled, or even failed with a project or an enterprise in your business? It's a tough situation, I know. I have lived it first hand.

I know that we always suggest that you simply get up and try again when you fail. But that's a lot easier said than done. In fact, many businesses never recover from a failure, and at a personal level, as a business owner or operator, a failure can be devastating.

Even when we're talking about business or work, sometimes a failure can have serious consequences in our personal lives. But I bet you didn't know that a big source of the negativity that comes after a failure comes from within.

The cliché seems to be true: We are our own worst enemies.

As a reminder to you, and to myself, I made this video about how we tend to beat ourselves up when something goes wrong. Even worse than that, we tend to be tougher on ourselves when we are the ones that caused the failure. So take a moment to watch this and hopefully you can relate.

Maybe you've been through this already, and maybe you have some additional tips or advice; if so, let me know in the comments.

Apply for the 21 Step Training System: http://notagrouch.com/21steps
Attend a FREE live workshop to learn profitable Internet marketing near you: http://oglink.it/imfreedom

I've had my own share of failures, shortcomings and downright blunders. I would love to get some feedback on this post, I feel that I went a bit personal so I really want to know if it had any impact on you today.

The post Why Do We Fail and We Beat Ourselves up About it! 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.

I use it and it works great. Once you sign up, you can establish an hourly rate and start promoting your profile as an expert so that people pay you for advice.

This is a great way to make additional income without having to spend a lot of effort doing it. Simply help another professional, or entrepreneur with a challenge.

Sometimes 15 minutes is all that people need, sometimes a full hour is necessary.

If you join, and you have a WordPress website then you can add an interactive widget that allows people to book you through Clarity with just a couple of clicks.

You just copy the text provided by the Clarity website and paste it into a text widget in your own WordPress website. The video below explains it all.

The post How to Add a Clarity Widget to Your Blog appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Nobody would be interested in hearing about that in a blog -- they say. But I always show them the posibilities instead of looking for the pitfalls.

This is a perfect example. Who knew that Slacklining was a thing? Slacklining is the sport of bouncing on a taught but elastic rope (more like a ribbon) and doing tricks while in the air.

Think of a single dimensional trampoline jumping routine, and yes it's a thing. The video you're about to watch is of the finals, the championship. So this is fully sanctioned somewhere.

That's an opportunity for media production for and around the sport, the people in it, the equipment, the events, the training and all that. A whole niche can be built on a blog just around a topic like that.

But enough about that, enjoy the video. It's quite entertaining. This is The World Slackline Masters 2015 Final. America vs Estonia:

The post Yes, Even This is a “Thing” appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Where I grew up, in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), fresh coconuts are a staple of everyday life. You can get one almost anywhere you look. You'll find them near the beach or at the restaurants.

But now that I live in the US, it's hard to find coconuts fresh like back at home. But there's hope. Some grocery stores now sell fresh young coconuts, and the Coco Jack will help you open them without any trouble. If you're just looking for the Coco Jack coupon, scroll to the bottom.

The Coco-Jack will let you get the coconut meat, or coconut flesh out easily. If you do it a couple times, you'll be able to get the whole thing in one motion. So awesome! And of course, you can get the water too! Check out the video to see how it works, it's quite simple.

I don't think you can find many US grown coconuts, but the Coco Jack is proudly made in the USA. You can get it here: Coco Jack.

Oh and if you decide you want to get one of these things, the Coco Jack has a discount code, use "SWEETCOCO" when you buy it and you'll get 10% off. I recommend you get the Coco Jack Pack, it has everything you need.

I got this last year for father's day and, apparently I was eating a little too much coconut. LOL. Looking back, I gained quite a bit of weight back then. Glad to be back to normal now. I still want to lose more weight, but that's for another post.

Now where's my coconut?

The post Summer is Coming, Do you Have Your Coco Jack Yet? And Coupon. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

If you've never been then you owe it to yourself to visit and try their new menu. The experience of dining at Charlie Palmer is one of the best in the area. The service is personal and attentive; the staff really make you feel welcome without being pretentious. Special thanks to the manager, Sten who made our experience outstanding.

And the food! The food is delicious. As you can see in the video, the chef came out to greet us and even prepared a special bacon kimchi risotto dish, just for my wife; should I be concerned? j/k it was awesome. Everything was to die for and the experience is one we'll remember for years to come.

In the video you see the a NY strip with Lobster, a Rib-eye with bone marrow and a few more things. The mushrooms were perfectly seasoned, and cooked to perfectly, so succulent.

One of the things that distinguishes a top tier restaurant like Charlie Palmer from the rest is their flexibility. I usually go to there for cocktails instead of dinner and until their menu changed, they had a terrific cocktail with jalapeño infused tequila (infused in house). They no longer serve this but because I asked, they were able to make it and that just buttoned up the whole experience.

Whether you're feeling like having one of the best steaks in Orange County or want to celebrate a special event with someone, Charlie Palmer at South Coast Plaza can take care of you.

cocktails-charlie-palmer the-pepper-cocktail ravioli charlie-palmer broccolli bacon-kimchi-risotto nystrip-and-lobster bone-inribeye-bonemarrow bone-in-ribeye charlie-palmer-dinner capuccino fruits-and-cream

The post Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s for Birthday Dinner appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

It was 100% automatically made by Google autoawesome. The music is good, the transitions are cool and the video clips and photos were good too. Sometimes Google will grab scenes or photos that you don't necessarily want to include in your video, but this time it did a great job.

I wonder what is going to happen to this when Google Plus finally gets dismantled as rumor has it.

The post Google’s Autoawesome is Awesome: Ashli & Bryan’s Babyshower appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Eureka Building is home to Eureka Hub and Eureka Events. They are a co-working and event space in Irvine and they (Eureka Events) host events like this all the time. This was my first time attending one of the Eureka events and I had a blast. The food was great, the companies there were pretty awesome. Some were very innovative and inspiring. I also made some great connections.

I met Alex Sewell and Kina De Santis from Motormood along with other great entrepreneurs. In fact Alex Sewell will be a speaker at our next event.

The post Eurekafest 2015 appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I talk about list building and how it is similar to dating. I also talk about the infamous "free, just pay shipping and handling" method.

List building is essential to any business, the tactics change over time, but the goal doesn't. You need a list and at least two segments, buyers and leads. You can always segment more beyond that and you should, but you need at least two main groups.

For the lead generation part I use two programs. But at the very basic level, you need just the second one.

#1 Optinmonster, because it integrates with WordPress beautifully. It creates intelligent lead generation boxes and helps you retain more traffic on your WordPress blog. Rumor has it that it will soon be platform agnostic so I highly recommend it. You can get Optinmonster here.

#2 LeadPages is the other app I use. This has entire websites that you can build as landing pages and they are some of the best out there. They are mobile friendly, easy to use, and will work with any website you already have or will host them for you in their blazing fast hosting service (included in the price).

They are the leaders in creating squeeze pages and I highly recommend them. You can check out Leadpages here.

#2.5 ClickFunnels. Since I first wrote this post, I've added ClickFunnels to my daily toolbox and I recommend it as well. This is a more robust platform than most other SAAS. You can create squeeze pages or landing pages, or entire funnels with A/B split testing plus they have Actionetics and Backpack. The closest to an "all-in-one" solution. Watch the webinar here.

And of course, as I have mentioned before, I use Aweber to maintain my list. Both Optinmonster and Leadpages connect with Aweber seamlessly to make my life easier. Aweber is available now with a totally free 30 day trial and you can check that out here in this link.

If you can't afford Optinmonster or Leadpages, you can still use Aweber on its own.

Aweber has built-in lead capture forms and you can even create simple squeeze pages with it. I just prefer to use better tools for that, but if you just need to start somewhere, start with Aweber for free.

The post Driving with Oscar – Episode 3 – List Building Tips appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I use Gravity Forms for tons of different things on all the websites I create. It can work as a feedback form like I describe in this video. You can also use it to create a quiz, or a survey. You can even use it to sell products or services right on your WordPress website.

Some of the other features include: multiple page forms, custom fields, you can even schedule a form to be available only during certain times or for a limited number of entries.

In this video I explain how to create a form to gather feedback. I use a form just like this to get feedback from students after they attend a class. This video is part of a tutorial series so I thought I'd share it with you. Feel free to leave any feedback in the comments!

If and when you get Gravity Forms you use this link, you'll get the best deal possible and help me create even more tutorials in the future.

The post Feedback form for WordPress with Gravity Forms – Tutorial appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

Recently it was very useful when I went to Affiliate Summit because I could just walk around all day and have my phone available at all times. There isn't one single phone out there that can keep up with me right now so I have to continuously charge it. This is why the Anker battery is really great.

I had it in my backpack and had my phone in my pocket. I had a USB cable running from my backpack to my pocket, and that can be a bit unsightly or annoying but this helped me stay powered up all the time. If you like to do live tweeting, instagram, checking in, getting GPS directions and other power hungry tasks, then I would check this out.

I talk about some of the other benefits in the video so check it out.

Some of the features and highlights of this battery include:

• 2 USB charging ports
• 1 USB Smart port
• 20,000 mAh
• LCD display for current charging status and remaining capacity
• Slim & sturdy aluminum case

My favorite thing is that I can charge this once and it will charge my phone up to around 5 times. You can also charge 3 different devices at once, like your phone, your friend's phone and an iPad and you'll still have quite a bit of battery left over for later.

Anker has quickly become one of the leaders in these types of batteries so check them out. You can find this specific battery here: Anker® 2nd Gen Astro Pro2

The post Anker® 2nd Gen Astro Pro2 Video Review appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

If you actually use the Google photos service, you can get autoawesomes done all the time not just at the end of the year.

The post The Year in Photos appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

The Irvine farmer's market has been around for a long time now and if you want to meet some of the region's best food producers, farmers then you should visit this.

avocado-oil-seller avocado-oil grapes terranium lemmon-irvine

The vendors as much as I know...

• Spring Hill - delicious cheese. I tried them all! - http://www.springhillcheese.com/
• Awesome Terrariums $15 to $50 - No website found, but they are pretty cool!
• Arnett Farms - http://www.arnettfarms.com/
• Papidaddy. (me) http://papidaddy.com/
• Anita Lau (Mad Hungry Woman) http://madhungrywoman.com/. I ran into my friend Anita, foodie extraordinaire.
• Avocado Oil. Amazing! starts at $15.00 for 1/2 liter. You can use Avocado oil like olive oil or any other cooking oil. It's healthy and stands really hot temperatures before it burns.
• Baba Food. Awesome we bought three things. Khalid will take you on an amazing hummus tasting tour.

You can find the new location here:

The post Irvine Farmer’s Market moved from UCI to Mariner’s Church appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

This little video update for #movember goes right along with that subject; food and nutrition and keeping your kids well fed. Making fun food to eat is one of the best tricks I can share with you. It's a lot like marketing.

You can deliver the message in many different ways, but sometimes you need to make the delivery attractive and fun for the message to really sink in.

With practice you can try to always make things interesting and more fun so that they're well received. Whether it is food or your next online marketing campaign.

The post Whether Food or Online Marketing, Fun is Always Better appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

It pays real money and it isn't difficult. If you want to jumpstart and cut through all the nonsense then get in touch with me before you do anything else. There is a better way to earn a living than wasting your life away at a job you hate.

You really don't have to do that. I show some checks from Shareasale, Aweber and a couple private companies that pay directly.

This doesn't mention the companies that pay me directly into my bank or paypal account. If you're wondering if you could do this too, you can.

If you are wondering if this is real, it is. If you want a guided process to learn Internet Marketing I can set you on the right track immediately.

Contact me and tell me you're interested in learning internet marketing. All my contact information is on my contact page.

The post Internet Marketing Works. See some Checks for Proof appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

One thing I can tell you that is true and will work and will make you successful at blogging. If you want to be a blogger, then blog. Seriously. Just blog.

In this video I explained some of these myths and why you should try to blog daily.

Blogging daily will increase your traffic. Always. If you increase your traffic, you increase the chances of that one person you want to read your blog more regularly.

Writing consistently and promoting your content is the only way to get more visitors to your blog. Ok, you see what I did there? I told you "writing consistently AND promoting." And some of you are going to call me out on that.

The thing is that I would love to tell you to promote your content daily. And if you had enough, you would only have to do that, but until you have hundreds of posts published and a lot of traffic coming in naturally, you need to write more blogposts.

I'm not telling you to sacrifice the quality, but you need to increase quantity. Just look at any of the big successful blogs. They produce content on a consistent schedule and it is usually daily.

The few blogs that get away with publishing two times per week or less than daily usually take a long time to produce their two or three blogposts. And that works for them. They also tend to be established blogs that have been around for a long time.

Time and longevity is on their side but not on yours. Try to write everyday.

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