Just finished reading the book by Stuart Wilde "Affirmations". Good reading on how to take back control of your life.

The new Social Media sites

I have been getting quite a few emails and offers to join some new social media sites that not only offer the traditional features you would find in Facebook and MySpace, but the opportunity to earn money from people viewing your profile and people who you refer.

I liked what I saw and joined a couple, here is a brief review. These social media sites have a lot of powerful feature built into them. I.E., blogging, groups, building a profile, email, videos and the ability to change your template look and add gadgets, and they are free to join. The bonus is the opportunity to make money….the best part.

They make a good point, the other media sites take in an average of 20 million a month from advertisers, but they pay none of that money to you. We read the ads, post content and refer friends. Their point is that we do the work, but do not get paid.

They have a system in place called RSR or Revenue Sharing Rate. This is what they use to figure out the amount of money to share with their users.

Now I realize no one is going to become rich using these social media sites and referring other members, but you can supplement your income to help offset some of your advertising cost tied to your main business. Why not get paid for something you are probably already doing.

Be warned, these sites are full of advertisements, but being able to brand yourself, make money and more is a real treat to this online marketer. The only part I did not like with Zenzuu, after starting your sign up process, you are required to complete a set up module, plan on it taking about 10 minutes to complete.

To learn more about Yuwie use this link
Yuwie

To learn more about Zenzuu use this link
Zenzuu

To your social media success,
Gerald Stidham
Retirebiz@gmail.com
www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/geraldsbiz

Facebook has passed Yahoo!

Google Beware, watch out for Facebook. The Social Media freight train is gunning for your spot. Facebook has finally passed Yahoo to gain the number #2 position on Alexa Ranking. Alexa ranks web sites and then reports traffic and other important information. Thee is no doubt about it...more people are searching and using Social Media sites then ever before. If you weren't aware of this, Facebook passed YouTube earlier in the year.

Now is the time to start implementing web 2.0 marketing into your online strategies.

Don't forget about Twitter? In the past 6 months they have climbed the charts from 50th to 13th position. As a professional online internet marketer, I have stepped up my social media marketing strategies, and I would suggest you do the same. It is refreshing to see this, I was so tired of Search Engine Media being the top form of advertising.

To your Success,
Gerald Stidham
retirebiz@gmail.com
www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/geraldsbiz

Banner advertising

Banners are a great way to get traffic. However, some sites this traffic may not be very targeted or they may be given an incentive to click on your banner, so be careful.

The best practice is to post the banners from your opportunity on your website or blog if you have one. or use them in your emails, and post them where ever you think is a good fit for the type of people you are targeting. Keep in mind that the best types of people to target are those who are already in a home business are buying or have bought work from home products and services.

Below are a few resources of some good places to advertise your banners. Some resources are free and others may have a cost to them, but the cost typically isn't much. Try some paid and free resources to see which works better for you.

* http://www.Google.com/adwords ..you must have a current adwords campaign to use this, but Google can post banners for you on other websites,simply create a new "site targeted" campaign, and choose "image" advertising.

* http://www.WAHM.com...this sites gets lots of traffic and is a great place to post your banner.

* http://www.AdBrite.com... a very solid company, you pay per thousands per impressions.

To your Success,
Gerald Stidham
http://www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/geraldsbiz

Make sure you have the right mindset!

What do you really say to yourself when you might
see someone living a lifestyle that you have
been yearning for, wanting and desiring?

To be more specific, What do you
say to your inner self when maybe you see someone driving
a luxury car that you have been wanting? or you see someone living
in a beautiful house?, maybe in a very loving relationship?

As you see these things in your daily life, it is important
to be aware of your inner voice. You may notice that you are full
of anger, or possibly envy and are upset.

What are you saying to yourself in these situations? Maybe that
these people are just lucky, or their money is dirty. Do you hear
yourself saying that I will never receive these items?.

Now, you may also ask yourself, that since you do desire these
things, why don’t I have them yet? Good question.

You must analyze your limiting beliefs you have about
yourself and the things you desire and want. Maybe, you
desire to be rich, but you have a belief that all rich people are evil
and money is the root of that evil.

Just imagine how you will respond, when you see someone else
living a rich and abundant life, your automatic response will be
negative and unprofitable.

This is why a person that has these types of beliefs and thoughts
will never be rich. Deep in your subconscious mind you will
realize that if you become rich, this will be the way other people
will look at you.

Becoming successful online requires both a solid work ethic and the right mindset.
Make sure your financial thermostat is properly set.

To your success,
Gerald Stidham
retirebiz@gmail.com
www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
facebook.com/gerald.stidham

If the dream is big enough, then all the facts will not matter

If the dream is big enough, the facts will not matter anymore

Wordpress Blog headers and resizing

Need to convert a picture into a great Wordpress blog header?, try this link. It works great, simply select your picture where you want it positioned then click. After it turns your picture into a header you can download it.... Blog Header

You can also use it for Gmail Blogs, but it will need to be resize. Here is another great link for resizing your pictures for posting to social media sites, classified ads and such..... Resizing pictures

Enjoy,
Gerald Stidham
retirebiz@gmail.com
928-606-2801

http://www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
facebook.com/gerald.stidham
http://www.youtube.com/geraldsbiz

Generate leads for FREE

Here are some quick ideas on how to generate hundreds of leads daily. Learn how to save money if you want to stop buying non targeted leads and see how simple it is to generate these leads naturally and organically.

First off I would recommend you stop paying for leads. I realize that most lead generating companies practice a fair and honest operation. But remember this; you are probably gong to get a lead that is neither qualified or targeted. Yes, the lead may be fresh, but try and think of it in terms of quality over quantity.

Idea #1
Make a video on any keyword associated with your niche. Don’t try and make it perfect, just produce a simple video maybe 2 to 3 minutes long. In this video talk about yourself, maybe how your product has helped you and changed your lifestyle. Or, you could do a review on 2 products related to your niche, one being yours and choose another one. Now post this video to as many video social media sites as possible. It is not uncommon to get an organic listing with Google within 2 to 3 hours of posting your video. This will drive fresh qualified leads to your site…FREE.

Idea #2
Join Facebook and MySpace social media sites, these are great places to generate fresh leads. Once you sign up, complete your online profile “very important you complete as much info as possible”. Once you are a member spend about ½ to 1 hour a day posting to the site, meeting new friends and getting involved with groups. Do not try and spam your opportunity, your account may be suspended and you will certainly not be received as a leader or industry expert from other members. Give it time to develop, people need to know and trust you before joining your opportunity. Post good content that is helpful and educational to other members. Soon you will have leads visiting your landing page and joining your MLM or Top Tier opportunity.

Idea #3
Start a blog, if you do not currently have one, create one immediately. Wordpress.com provides all the tools to create a nice blog and it is free to do. Upload a nice picture of yourself to your blog, post articles, ideas and experiences on a daily basis. Again, you want to provide good content, show you understand their problem and provide a solution.

In summation: use web 2.0 marketing strategies, provide good content and do not treat any potential lead as just another credit card number. Position yourself as an expert in your industry and watch the leads pour in.

To your Success,
Gerald Stidham
928-606-2801

www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/geraldsbiz

Time to Get started with Video Marketing

I know what your thinking...Not too worry, shooting, setting up and posting videos online is easy and very effective in generating new leads. It is not uncommon for Google to pick up your video, just hours after you upload it and have it placed in the top 5 Google results organically. This is free traffic and creates very qualified prospects. Listen..don't worry about the small stuff,

* I look goofy...my first video, which is still on Youtube was from a company van
* It is not professional enough...I had a prospect comment my first video was great
* I have nothing to share or no expertise...just tell your story

Use the steps here and before long you will be mastering video marketing. OK, let's get started. First and most obvious you will need a camera or webcam. Don't go run out and buy the most expensive one there is. If you have a digital camera that shoots videos, that is fine or just go buy a webcam at your local electronics store for around $30.00.

Once your set up with your camera, it is time to do some keyword research. This is important, you will be selecting a keyword to do a video around. Use Googles adword keyword research tool, or wordtracker offers a free version. Research keywords that are longtail "4 to 5 words long", and produce 300,000 to 500,000 results from a Google search.

The smaller your results list is, the much better chance you have of being picked up. As you perform a Google search, look to see how many paid adword advertisers there are on the right side, the more the better. You are not competing with these marketers, lots of advertisers tells you that it is a profitable niche.

Now it is time to determine what you want to say. Spend maybe 30 to 60 minutes drafting this story. Use bullet points to highlight what you want to convey, keep it brief and to the point. You will not be reading it word for word when you produce your first video.

OK, let's shoot your first video..I like to position my camera so it points back towards me, so you can see me and my work space. Some people like to go outside near a lake or mountain side or others simply have a white wall background. Choose the most comfortable for you, don't get too caught up on this step. Try and relax and be yourself, it is OK if you cough, or scratch your head or you may need to glance down at your draft to help keep you focused..again that is OK

After shooting your video, during playback you may say to yourself "what an awful video, I did nothing right", this is to be expected. Don't be too hard on yourself, you may perceive your video had bad, but trust me most other people will like it and enjoy the connection you have established. Don;t try and shoot a perfect video, it will never happen. If you feel it is necessary to reshoot it a couple of time that's OK, but remember the key to video marketing is getting it uploaded.

Final step is getting it uploaded to as many video social media sites as possible. This can be a daunting task if you choose to do it manually. I use Traffic geyser, this piece of software allows me to upload to multiple sites, enter in all the keywords and my link so the search engines pick it up quickly, all in a matter of minutes.

There you have it, my best advice... just shoot your first one and get it uploaded. It gets much easier the more you do.

To your Video marketing Success,
Gerald Stidham
http://www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
facebook.com/gerald.stidham.

5 Free Marketing Ideas

Marketing idea #1:
Traffic exchanges can be a great way too get some visitors to your site. There are hundreds of TE’s you can use, simply enter the keyword” traffic exchange” into Google and check out the results. Remember this is an exchange system, you click other members sites in exchange for credits which you can use to get other members to click onto your own site. The traffic is not very targeted, but if you devote an hour a day to clicking it will help drive some traffic.

Marketing idea #2:
Safe list marketing is a slow and tedious marketing strategy, but with some effort it can help drive traffic. Here you join a safe list and allow other members to send you emails in exchange you can build up credits and use these credits too send your offer to other members of the safe list. Do not use your primary email address as it will be flooded with offers. A few tips to help you experience some success. You will need to write very attention grabbing headlines in order to get people to open your email, start a database of the safe list you joined and try and email to the group every week at the same time. A much better marketing strategy is list builders, there is an expense involved in joining them, but the response is much higher.

Marketing idea #3:
Regardless of what other people may say, classified ads are another great free marketing idea that actually works. There are thousands of free classified ad sites, where you can place your classified ad online and drive traffic to your site. You will need to come up with 3 or 4 different classified ads, you need to keep them short maybe 4 to 5 sentences and a great attention grabbing headline. Your ad will not stay on the top of the page for long, so remember to resubmit your ads on a regular basis or pay a few dollars to get it listed in a premium spot. A few techniques for a great headline. Use a question as your headline, your answer will be your product, use the number of steps formula, I.E. “5 steps to financial freedom“, or you can also use the in under formula. Like “join our team and be profitable in under 3 months“.

Marketing idea #4:
With today internet , you must have a presence on Social network sites. Join Facebook, You Tube, MySpace or Twitter. My recommendations would be too join all four, as they are easy to join and interface with. After joining you will need to set up your profile, do not take this step lightly, fill it out completely. Another mistake most people make with social network sites is blasting their website all over the place, it makes other members feel like you are spamming them. It is OK to occasionally post your link, but you must add value to your post and give something to the community. This way you can start to build relationships and this can lead to someone joining your program. People do not join programs they join other people they trust and see as a leader.

Marketing idea #5:
Video marketing can be a scary marketing skill to implement, but I know of people who earn thousands from their videos and pay nothing for advertising. Your video needs to tell a story, everyone loves to hear a great story and believe it or not you have one to tell. Make your video no more than 3 to 4 minutes long and just simply tell your story. Don’t worry if you think it is unprofessional, people will connect better with you when you are honest and yourself. Google is now listing videos in the organic section of searches on a lot of keywords…free traffic. You can post your videos on YouTube, your blog, Facebook and MySpace.

To your marketing Success,
Gerald Stidham
http://www.geraldsonlinebiz.com
http://geraldsonlinebusiness.wordpress.com
facebook.com/gerald.stidham
http://www.youtube.com/geraldsbiz