This post has nothing to do with SEO, but if you have any children, you may find it interesting (and potentially useful one day).
Recently our school board decided that it needed to move some attendance zones around to new schools in order to balance the numbers for each better (so that some are not over-crowded while others are under-capacity).
Now, no one ever likes to change schools for the most part. But in our particular case, the recommendation of the school board for us to be moved was seriously flawed.
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It’s no secret… organization has never been my strong point. For a long time, I’ve been able to try and convince myself I just need to “accept” that I’m not “the organized type”.
But, during 2011, as my businesses kept continually increasing in size, I no longer could look the other way when it came to my organizational dysfunction.
It was time to take some action. Luckily, I figured out that a lot of my disorganization was curable – with the right apps and services.
Below are the business productivity and organizational tools that I find to be not simply good – but incredible – in helping me keep myself (and my businesses) organized, in no particular order.
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After having spent more than a decade in this industry as both an affiliate marketer and a provider of various SEO services, I’ve seen a lot of new folks enter the ranks, with their aim being to become a successful SEO consultant.
And as a result, I’ve seen a lot of things done right – and a lot of things done wrong – as they aim to achieve that goal.
Hoping that people can learn from the mistakes myself and my colleagues often see new SEO consultants make when entering the industry, I recently asked a group of successful search engine marketing folks:
“What is the number one mistake you see new consultants in the search engine marketing space make when attempting to build their consulting business?”
Their answers are below:
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This is not an SEO or affiliate marketing related post per se, but it does touch on a topic that I’m often asked about at conferences, in emails and via my contact forms.
Most of you know that in addition to owning several successful companies that focus on affiliate marketing and SEO, I’m also a mom of four awesome kids ages 14 to (almost) 5 months.
Since I primarily work from my home office (by choice), that also makes me a work at home mom (WAHM).
A question I’m asked very often? How the hell I find time to get everything done. From conference calls, to football practice, to site audits, to hosting sleepovers, to building affiliate websites, to middle of the night feedings, to managing our household, to spending time with my (awesome) husband – it can be a lot to handle.
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I just wanted to take a quick moment and thank everyone who donated to support me in the 2011 Heart and Stroke Walk here in Houston. This past Saturday, my daughter and I (along with my four month old in his stroller) walked five miles to promote increased awareness of heart disease and stroke.
Because of all the awesome people who donated, I was able to reach my 10,000 dollar goal ($10,026 to be exact).
With your help, I was the sixth highest individual fundraiser in all of Houston. :)
Every donation – be it 5 dollars or 500 dollars was greatly appreciated.
A special thanks to Affiliate Summit, DIYThemes, MicroBrand Media, ADIO Chiropractic, Speedy Incorporation, StudioPress and Raven Tools. You guys made donations that went above and beyond and I truly, TRULY appreciate it. :)
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A lot of people question whether or not you can make money with affiliate marketing. A lot more question whether THEY can make money with affiliate marketing. Despite telling my story of coming from nothing to being a very successful affiliate marketer many times, I think a lot of people find it hard to believe that with enough effort, they can really make not only a full time income, but a six figure income, with affiliate marketing.
Many folks think there must be some advantage, some trick, to being able to reach that level of success.
And to be fair, all the bullshit info products from folks who promise you can make 1,000 dollars a week by doing nothing certainly don’t help.
The truth is that affiliate marketing takes work. BUT, if you’re willing to put in that work, you CAN see success. And eventually, you can see a healthy AND passive income.
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A few months ago I did an article about finding the money to get started in affiliate marketing as a result of feedback from my readers when I asked them what was holding them back from finding success with affiliate marketing.
The second most common reason people cite for their lack of affiliate success? No time.
I get it. You have a lot going on in your life. Maybe a regular job. Maybe kids to shuffle back and forth to everything from piano to football.
Maybe you’re caring for a sick family member. Maybe it’s a combination of any or all the typical things that keep us busy in life. You just can’t find the time.
Again I’ll say… [said with tough love] Bullshit.
You have the time. You simply need to MAKE the time.
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Now before I start this post, I’d like to state for the record that I don’t like depending on Webmaster Welfare (Adsense). I prefer to get my website income from affiliate marketing whenever possible.
That said, we create our websites for users and that means that we focus on informing the visitor and not simply writing posts with the sole goal being to make money with affiliate marketing.
For example, my website devoted to all things Blackberry will blog on upcoming products and releases that our users want to know about, such as the BlackBerry Monaco. Since the Monaco (aka the BlackBerry Torch 9850) is not available yet, it means we have to find other means of monetizing the posts we do on it aside from selling the phone itself. That’s where Google AdSense comes in.
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Another year, another whirlwind of Internet marketing conferences. The year’s technically two thirds done, but I’ve still got quite a bit more traveling to do as the fall conference season kicks into high gear.
So where can you find me for the rest of the year?
Well, I’ll be hitting South Beach in October and heading up to Canada for a visit before the year is out… oh, wait… right…
You want the *business* related traveling schedule. ;-)
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As I mentioned in finding the money to get started with affiliate marketing, I’ve been asking my readers and subscribers for feedback on what they find to be obstacles to finding success with affiliate marketing. As a result, I’ve been learning a bit about what I “take for granted” as far as SEO knowledge goes.
At the top of the list? That you should never blog on a free subdomain (i.e. yourblog.wordpress.com).
Believe it or not, the most common “defense” I hear from folks when I tell them this is that Seth Godin does it.
So, let me head that off at the pass and say that if you are an award winning author and world renowned marketer revered by an entire industry? Then you can get away with it. That said, even Seth Godin still shouldn’t be doing it.
Why?
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