essentialsoflife

I just checked my Google Search Console and discovered that all of the links from forums (such as this one), blog comments, article directories, and even my Blogger account no longer show in the Links to Your Site section. Do links only show if they've been used recently? or is sharing your link for seo purposes no longer an option and we should just focus on networking? I'm just confused because I thought backlinks were still important. NVM... I was looking at the wrong website There are 20 listed for my blog

"I never worry about who will buy or what they buy. I only focus on letting the world know what I'm doing." I really needed to be reminded of this! Some times, I get so wrapped up in figuring all the details out that I become catatonic with informational overload and end up not doing any thing productive at all.

Some times, I feel like all I do is "busy work" But building a solid foundation, learning a new technique, or doing research is important too... the difference seems to be whether you have a plan or are just randomly clicking or mindlessly scrolling through social media (which I have been guilty of from time to time! )

I too use folders and sub-folders in both email and bookmarks. I also have a digital organizer (Efficient Lady's Organizer - there is a "man's" version too ) to keep my passwords, software registration codes, and a copy of my bookmarks; plus it has my contacts, calendar, and task lists (yeah, they have their own folders and sub-folders too! lol). I haven't quite gotten the knack of backing everything up on a regular basis... and even when I do, when I have a crash, I discover that I didn't save important stuff (like email and sql files ) More than once I've had to start my site from scratch. I'm getting better though... I didn't lose a single important file this last time!

I use Yahoo for all of my personal mail and my own domain for business email. But, I have opened a gmail account now in order to create an account with some programs. One thing that I like about using Yahoo and Outlook is the ability to filter email into folders. I haven't been able to figure out how to do this with gmail... is it even possible?

I became enthusiastic about using mailers after joining Your Viral List and reading the Top 25 converting sites and seeing how quickly the site grew. So, I thought I'd do testing on my own because I wanted to find out "the rest of the story"... you know... like what's the CTR? and what is the ratio of how many messages to read versus how many views delivered? Here is what I found as an average for 2 weeks (each using the free account): List Surfing - 4% - read 3:1 10x mailer - 3% - read 3:1 Marketing Checkpoint - 2.5% - read 1.5:1 List Impact - 2.5% - read 4:1 List Jumper - 2% - read 2:1 Traffic Bonus - 2% - read 3:1 List Joe - 2% - read 4:1 List Bonus - 1.5% - read 2:1 Bweeble - 1.5% - read 4:1 #1ProfitRing - 0.8% - read 6:1 WebBizInsider - 0.6% - read 6:1 Herculist - too low to mention I can view about 500 pages an hour. My end result was that I spent 2 hours earning credits for 1 subscriber; which, I don't think is terrible for this test, but obviously needs improvement! If paying 0.01 per click, that would be $8/subscriber. I'll weed out the ones that take a lot of work for low CTR, try a few others, and change my landing pages to see if I can get better results. Though I haven't lost interest in mailers, I can certainly see why it'll be necessary to pay for some advertising if I want to grow my business into something that will support me this year!

I have tons of credits on Mathew's sites too (mostly from purchases I made several years ago and never followed up on). I have gotten 2 subscribers in a week from his sites, so I can't complain too much! I am fairly happy with List Surfing. Thanks to all for the replies! Since the traffic appears to be normal for these sites, I won't panic and will check out a couple of others on my list.

This morning I saw an ad promoting Has anyone used this company? What kind of price and conversion should I expect? Pricing isn't listed on their page, which makes me a little wary.

I've been trying a few traffic exchanges (dabbling a bit in the free stuff while testing my landing pages before committing to paying for advertisement) and have found that I rarely get above 10 page views a day - a better average of 5 - after assigning 300+ credits to my page. Is this normal? I'm using: WebBizInsider TopTierTraffic SplashPageSurfer ListSurfer SocialSurf4U (this one has a higher daily average, but also a higher surf:traffic ratio) I quit using TopSurfer altogether because I couldn't get it to work at all with 5000 credits and support never responded. I'm considering using Big Beach Hits. If I should only expect 5-10 views a day from each exchange then I'm going to need to back off a bit on my surfing and turn my focus elsewhere for a bit while my credits get used

Well said!

Blogger is great for ease of use Wordpress on your own domain is awesome if you want to control every aspect and like to use a variety of available plugins. However, the security problems do have me considering going back to html... the only reason I haven't is that I have invested a lot of time and money to get the themes and plugins.

I can see why you'd promote the sales page versus a squeeze page... it would certainly weed out the "tire kickers". However, I have discovered that both have advantages. The advantage for the landing page is that very few will order from the sales page the first time out (I know that I never do) and having the interested person on your mailing list reminds them of the offer that peaked their attention to begin with. The bad thing that I've seen about squeeze pages is a lack of information... why is it that I should join your mailing list? I like landing pages that give some information and if I'm interested in learning more then I can sign up and move on and think about the offer a bit before deciding and the person presenting the offer still gets the credit. Plus, by have a list, you can offer other stuff too.

http://kindredspiritforhealthandhome.com/wp-content/uploads/dwell_with_gratitude.jpg

My first work-at-home opportunity (not sure that it was MLM) was in the 80's with Creative Circle, selling needlepoint craft products. I was just a teen, but LOVED teaching how to do the needlepoint. The company didn't last long though... I think they gave away too many products! My mom then did tupperware for a time, but we were in a small community and that didn't last long. And Mary Kay, but then she stopped wearing makeup, so there was no point in promoting it! About 10yrs ago, she tried some Home & Garden company. Lovely products, but they didn't last long. For myself, my first MLM company was Young Living Essential Oils (whom I'm still with today! ). I tried Just-2, but they didn't last long. I've thought about Herbalife, but they did't have enough products that I'd actually use. I've also considered Plexus and Melaleuca. Oh, and I'm with Mannatech... I really only use one of their products, but do notice a difference. Yeah, I'm on a big health kick! For non-health programs, I did TrafficWave for a time (though, I think that's a matrix program). I was earning money, but it was one of those times that my husband and I were fighting and I quit my business (it happened every 2-3yrs while I was married - I cannot stress enough the importance of having the support of your significant other!). I've always regretted quitting back then because I'd have a fantastic downline now, but not really interested in starting over again

Oh, wow! Thank you! You've given me much encouragement today! Start with my favorite... you mean, I can still be "me"! That is so good to know! The last "course" I took, they said that it doesn't matter what you like to do... you follow the customer trends... and, I truly hated it and ended up getting no where fast! I have decided that I do really enjoy participating in a forum with like-minded people, so I'll try to find one in my niche that I'll enjoy. Yep, you're right... could be my thing! I'm glad to know that video is not the end-all that so many people say it is because I spent nearly a thousand dollars on video backgrounds, templates, images, audio, and programs a couple of years ago and found it to be very time-consuming and intimidating. I'm sure that I'll make one from time to time, but I'll focus on building content for now and building my social fan base... Yay! I have a plan that I can work with!

I guess that's "thinking outside of the box" http://www.findingcarla.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Thinking_Outside_The_Box_by_mclelun.jpg

Thanks for letting me know about Referral Frenzy Could you tell me what your average view per mailing is? 50? 100? But Herculist? I receive 25-75 credits per email read... maybe they changed something since you tried them last... though, scanning through my messages just now, I found about 25% don't have credits assigned

I have used login ads with good results before... thank you for bringing it up because I had totally forgotten about that!

Does anyone use Referral Frenzy? There is a long list of mailers that your ad is submitted to, but no indication of how many active members there are. I upgraded on Herculist and then was sadly disappointed about the CTR being less than other sites with under 2000 members. So, thought I'd ask about Referral Frenzy before making another rash decision.

When I first started marketing online, it was because I lived an hour away from any town and I was super excited to have the internet (still am! ). Now, I live in town, but I'm legally blind and have become rather self-conscious so still prefer the online community. For years, my "business" has just been a hobby too and really enjoyed being laid back, so I understand your position. Now that my kids are grown and my life has turned upside down (divorce) I want to do more... much more. Yep, that's what I'm striving for... just trying to figure out which direction to go! lol

Thank you! I've worked very hard on my sites and it is nice to know that someone appreciates how it looks (other than the family )

Thank you all for the encouragement! I have learned that it takes 500-5000 views for mailers and exchanges for one subscriber (depending on the mailer and offer)... since I am promoting my essential oil business, I expect that the numbers will be even more. I submitted my ad to 12 different mailers on Friday (50k potential) and have had less than 300 views (50 of those actually came from this forum ) and zero subscribers. I expected more around 2000 views and 1-4 subscribers. Since I can only submit and ad once a week via this method, I can verify that it is going to take a very long time to get any where using this method. When I was promoting my fb page the beginning of last year, I was getting 5 likes a day, which was very encouraging, so I do plan on going back to doing that. (marketing really is only fun when you are getting some sort of response! ) But, I am still confused about how often to post or share posts from other pages. I will have to look into fb groups... the majority that I've seen in my niche don't appreciate people posting ads. I do like the idea of trying a $5 fb ad - thanks for the idea! As far as the blogs go... I have no idea what the deal is with the lack of acceptance. I'm posting comments to recent articles that relate to the article and using my real name. I guess I'll finish going through my list and see what happens.

Since I haven’t been running my business for almost a year, I have to practically start over. Again. Over the past decade, I’ve spent thousands on courses to get my business going. Most of them give the highlights and offer extras (for a lot more). Though I've learned a lot, I’m still left with questions. I know that the first thing I need to setup is my landing page and autoresponder messages. Got it. After that, what’s most important? I have a very limited budget and seem to only be able to work on my business for 3-4 hours a day, so it is important to me to focus on the most productive things that I can. I know that social media is a big thing right now and I have created a ton of images to share. But, then, I heard that video is the way to go and I’ve got ideas on that too. The thing about social media is that I never know if my posts are getting to my followers (especially on facebook). I also know that you are supposed to share other’s work to give more interest to what you offer. And provide more than just sell, sell, sell. But, how often to post? Post something original every day? Share every day? Twice a day? I’ve seen some pages posting something six times a day… isn’t that a bit much? Or not? Another direction I’ve been wondering about… google changed things a bit with blog comments, but there are those that still encourage making comments on blogs. I have made a list of nearly 200 blogs to make comments on. I’ve only managed to get through about 30 on the list, with only 3 that have accepted my comments. Is it worth making comments or is this a complete waste of time? Forum discussion (like this one) is another direction… is it good for creating backlinks or not? For being sociable? Or are forums really just another way to get side tracked? Is it still a good idea to post articles on blog accounts like blogger, wordpress and tumblr for back links? Yeah, I'm going in a hundred directions at once and could really use some advice (am I'm sure there are others wondering the same thing too)!

Hello! I'm fairly new to the forum and look forward to meeting the people here. My online marketing life (actually, life in general) has been one adventure after another since I began in 2000. I love what I do and feel stronger called in this direction... My only complaint is that I have been a very slow learner Now that my children are grown, I'm focusing more on my business strategies and hoping to actually earn a little this year

Hello fellow marketer! I've been marketing online off and on... ok, more off than on... since October 2000.