If your homepage simply features a list of your latest blog posts, you’re making a big mistake.

It’s important to get your homepage right because it’s going to be one of the most viewed pages on your blog, but people don’t view it in the way that you’d think.

Who Visits the Homepage?

Before you decide what to put on your homepage, you need to understand who views your homepage and how they got there.

First-Time Visitors

You likely think that your homepage is the first page of your website that somebody sees. That’s probably not the case.

The only way your homepage will be the first viewed page is if another site links to your homepage, if someone tells somebody to go to www., or if you have a well-known brand.

On my blog, 14clicks, only 3.9% of my traffic starts on the homepage.

Second-Page Clickers

What’s more likely is that someone will first see a blog post, then click over to see the homepage. This person has already interacted with your site and they’re curious enough to click over to the homepage.

On 14clicks, the homepage accounts for 28.1% of the second-page traffic, which is 3.6 times more than any other page.

Returning Visitors

If someone found your site once, liked it, and wants to go back to it, they’ll do one of two things.

One, they’ll go directly to the domain. Two, they’ll search for the name of your site. In either case, returning visitors will probably start on the homepage.

On 14clicks, 58% of the homepage traffic comes from people typing in the domain directly or from Google (with some variation of “14 clicks” being 5 of the 6 most popular keywords).

In general, people find your site through a blog post. If they like the post, they’ll click to the homepage. If they return, they probably start on the homepage. Therefore, most people who see your homepage have already interacted with your blog and you need to adjust your content accordingly.

Your Homepage Needs to Answer Their First Question

“Why should I stick around?”

To answer that question, you need to communicate what your site is and who it’s for.

Eye-Catching and Concise Headline

The headline should be the first thing a new visitor sees. It needs to answer the question, “what are the benefits to me personally if I cruise around this blog?”

Put your headline front-and-center so it’s first thing someone sees when they visit your homepage.

Eye-Catching Image or Video

On the side of or below your headline, you need to put an eye-catching, trust-building, benefit-depicting image or video.

The purpose of this image/video is to elicit a positive emotional response while visually communicating what your site is all about. If you have a personal branding blog or a company that’s tied closely to your personality, put a photo of yourself on your homepage to build trust.

Good Example: JustCreative.com

Jacob Cass has a picture of himself and his headline featured above the fold. He also uses his headline to direct people to his portfolio and blog.

Tell People What You Want them To Do

After you tell people why they should stay on your blog, you need to tell them what to do next. Underneath your headline and image, put your call to action. This could be one of four things depending on the purpose and goal of your blog.

Request a Quote

If you have a service-based business and you want to use your blog to collect leads, the homepage is a great place to put a button or a link to your contact page.

Subscribe

If the goal of your blog is to get email subscribers, put an opt-in box at the top of your homepage.

If you’re worried that the opt-in box will annoy your existing readers, don’t be. In the same way that you tend to gloss over ads, once they’re subscribed, they’ll subconsciously scroll past it to the content.

Register or Login

If you have a membership site and your number one goal is to turn readers into users, place two buttons as your call to action: “Register” and “Login.”

Purchase Something

If you want to skip the whole email marketing step and go directly for the sale, not what I’d recommend, then you can make the homepage call to action “See Our Featured Product” or “Shop.”

Good Example: SocialTriggers.com

The sole purpose of Derek Halpern’s site is to turn readers into subscribers. So he puts opt-in boxes everywhere, including at the top of his homepage.

Add Credibility and Social Proof

Once a visitor knows how you can help them and what you want them to do, it’s up to them to make that decision. The best way to help them make that decision in your favor is to demonstrate your credibility through social proof.

Social or Subscriber Counts

People are a lot more likely to subscribe if they know that lots of other people are already subscribed.

If you have more than 1,000 subscribers, show that number directly below your call-to-action. If you don’t, you can show social proof with your number of monthly readers, Twitter followers, or Facebook fans. If none of those numbers are over 1,000, you need to get to work.

Show a Testimonial, Preferably from a Well-Known Source

Another way to build credibility is to feature someone else’s opinion of you and your blog. Ask your most active readers to give you a testimonial and tell them that you’re going to put it on the homepage.

What’s even more powerful is a testimonial from someone who everyone knows. This builds authority by association. But don’t coerce testimonials from people who wouldn’t otherwise read your site.

Press or Customer Logos

If you’ve gotten a lot of press or have worked with well-known brands, put their logos on your homepage. Again, this builds authority by association.

I’m torn whether or not you should link the logos to the articles, though. On one hand, it could build your credibility even more if people read those articles. On the other hand, you’re driving people away from your site right as they’re about to take action. What do you think? Comment below.

Good Example: Conversion-Rate-Experts.com

Ben Jesson and Dr. Karl Blanks, from Conversion Rate Experts, have worked with the largest companies in the world and their blog has been featured on a number of prestigious media outlets. They make that clear with client logos and press logos (which aren’t linked, by the way).

Regularly Updated Content and Deep-Linking for SEO

From a search engine optimization perspective, there are two important things to consider with your homepage.

One, your homepage should update at least slightly when you post new content. Google likes to see fresh content. Two, every page on your site should be two-three clicks away from the homepage to make sure it gets completely indexed.

Links to Latest Blog Posts

New content on the homepage, even if it’s just the headlines, is important for search engines, but it’s also important for your readers. When people come back to your blog, they’re expecting to easily find your latest content.

This doesn’t mean that your blog needs to be on your homepage. You can choose to use a Recent Posts plugin to display the headlines and excerpts from your latest blog posts.

Deep-Linking and Sitemap Link in the Footer

The best way to make sure that every page on your site is within three clicks of the homepage is to subtly link to your category archives and sitemap in the footer.

This also helps from a usability standpoint if people are looking for posts on particular topics.

Good Example: IncomeDiary.com

As you see, Michael showcases the latest posts on the Income Diary homepage because his goal is for you to consume as much content as possible. The more blog posts you read, the more likely you are to subscribe and buy something from him. In the footer, he links to the sitemap, category archives, a few popular posts, and author archives.

The Final Word

Blogs are different from traditional, static websites because almost everyone who sees your homepage has already seen a different part of your blog.

It’s important to adjust the content of your homepage knowing that they’re already interested in what you have to say. Whether it’s leads, subscribers, or sales, the homepage is a great place to convert people to whatever goals that you set for your blog.

How does this help you see your homepage in a new light? What are you going to do about it?

Photo by: Stuck on Customs

This week has been full of interesting news and shakeups from The Avengers having a killer opening weekend to Facebook announcing it’s App Center.

There’s a ton to learn from here, so let’s just jump right in.

Marvel’s Avengers Shatter Box Office Records

News Article In Question: Mtv.com

The highly anticipated release of The Avengers brought in an estimated $200 Million in it’s opening weekend in the U.S.

This breaks the record previously held by Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 which made $169.2 Million last year.

Marvel’s landmark comic book flick — which unites Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) against an otherworldly threat — became the fastest movie ever to reach $100 million, $150 million and $200 million at the box office. “The Avengers” also enjoyed the highest per-theater average ever for a nationwide release with $46,057 per theater.

Why This Is Important To You:

Well, if you’re a big superhero movie nerd like me, you’ll just be happy to see that the good guys win again.

The main lesson here is one of anticipation building, and successful JVing.

Since Marvel opened their own studio back in 2008 they have been building the anticipation for this movie for nearly 4 years.

The primary characters in this film have all headlined in their own successful films, and the cast is chock full of award winners and nominees. And while those movies are all good on their own merit, they’ve only acted as a smaller part of a larger strategy.

The success of this movie goes to show with the proper balance of planning and skillful execution, you can achieve great things.

Facebook Announces Opening “App Center” In A Few Weeks

Resource In Question: Information Week

According to InformationWeek.com, Facebook plans to open it’s own App store “to help make Facebook apps, Web apps, and mobile apps easier to find.”

The App Center will not only feature the likes of FarmVille, CityVille, Mafia Wars, and the thousands of other apps you want to hurt your friends for asking you to play, but also paid apps.

Facebook also mentions they will proudly feature well designed “engaging” apps on the App Center’s main page, which is something that iTunes has not offered so freely.

Why This Is Important To You: 

If you’re an app developer, this is a great time to get in on the ground floor for this new App Repository.

No Facebook apps aren’t anything new, but having the chance at being showcased in front of 900 million people worldwide is pretty promising. A good traffic driving strategy should get you there.

If you’re not an app developer, this (and other news you’ll see in a second) signals the beginning of Social Media 3.0 where new media formats become a bigger part of our online experience.

Now for me, this is just wishful thinking, but what if this is just a stepping stone to Facebook renting movies (ala Itunes). With it’s existing Skype integration, it’s possible that we could start watching movies & tv with friends without ever leaving the social network.

Google + Rolls Out “Hangouts – On Air”

Resource In Question: PC World

By now, many of us are familiar with the ever popular Google Hangouts, which let’s you chat, draw, edit docs and a number of other things all while live streaming your webcam with up to 9 other friends.

The “On Air” portion of Hangouts, allows you to broadcast that hangout to your Google+ stream, Youtube account, and embed it on your website.

“On Air” will also record and upload the hangout to your Youtube account automatically.

Why This Is Important To You:

This represents a much deeper level of engagement than previously possible on a social network.

I want to encourage you to look into how you can develop some sort of programming that can take advantage of this new technology.

If you cook, start cooking and answering questions On Air. If you’re friends with other people in your field, start a friendly public debate show On Air. If you’re in a band, get each of your members to play over webcam while streaming to your fans, then submit it to Mashable, say first ever Hangout Band Practice, and become a viral sensation.

Really, find any way you can to use this, because it truly is the future of social networking.

Facebook Introduces File Sharing

News Source In Question: Mashable

As of Thursday, File sharing is going to be rolled out across Facebook “Groups” platform.

This is likely a response to Google’s Drive roll out from two weeks ago, but it doesn’t really matter, as it has been one of the most requested features since the new groups were introduced.

Users can upload most file types up to 25MB — the same file size limit as Gmail. The exceptions: music files (sorry, old-school Napster fans) and executable (.exe) files (sorry, hackers). But e-books, comics, music videos and other small movies are fair game.

Why This Is Important To You:

Facebook groups are great for building customer loyalty. By leveraging the ability to share multiple file types, you’ll be able to offer “group exclusive” bonuses in a very easy way.

For example, you could start your own membership site within Facebook, and upload .pdf worksheets. If your community is more visually minded, you could host video files, and encourage your group members to remix the work.

Or, if you’re using groups for more work oriented type projects, you can have your group have one central location for all relevant files (instead of having to email everything constantly)

Twitter May Be Working on Email Expansion

News Article In Question: Mashable

Back in January, Twitter acquired Summify, a service that will email you top stories based on what your friends are sharing.

Yesterday, they also acquired RestEngine, a company that basically hyper segments your email lists based on Social Graph Data.

If 1+1=2 than it could be that Twitter is looking to put together a “tweets you may have missed” email platform to drive more engagement back into the site, and making itself even more valuable as a content distribution network.

Why This Is Important To You:

Online marketers have been saying for quite some time that your primary focus needs to be on email list building.

If Twitter truly is building an email platform that will highlight users best tweets, they’re going to do the hard work when it comes to getting your content in front of people who very well may have been interested, they just weren’t on at the exact hyper second you decided to tweet.

Facebook Tests “Highlight”

News Article In Question: Techcrunch

Facebook has recently started testing a feature called Highlight which will allow users, (not pages, or apps) to pay a nominal fee for “pinned” placement in the News Feed. The reason, most people only see about 12% of the total activity going on within Facebook.

This test comes as a result of trying to find more ways to monetize the platform before the company goes public.

News sources wonder if the social network is “playing with fire” with highlight as it runs a very big risk of being abused by your attention starved “friends” and unsaavy business owners.

Why This Is Important To You:

If you (or someone you know) is a part of this test group, there is the potential for “Feedjacking”.

If you’re one of the people who does get to test out this new feature, I would just like to caution you to make sure what you’re promoting is not entirely self serving, and genuinely deserves to be seen by more of your friends. Something like “ZOMG CHECK OUT MY NEW POST” probably is not going to go over well with your friends.

The Best And Worst Times To Share On Facebook, Twitter

News Article In Question: Mashable

Want your link to get the most traction on Twitter? Post it on a Monday between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET.

Long story short, popular link shortner bit.ly has released a report that shares their data on the best (and worst) times to share links on the worlds most popular social networks.

Why This Is Important To You:

Do I really need to explain?

Bing’s Redesign “Declutters” Search And Puts Social Context in the Side Bar

News Article In Question: Techcrunch

Last week we reported on Bing doing a major overhaul on their search interface in response to the public dissatisfaction of Google’s heavy (and annoying) integration of Google+ into their search results.

This week, they’re starting to roll out an even cleaner, more robust search result page by displaying pure algorythmic results on the left, contextual results in the middle, and social recommendations on the right.

Bing is attempting (and doing a good job of) showing that it’s focus on user experience is more important than pushing it’s social network in your face.

If Bing is able to keep this up, it’s possible they can slowly pick at Google’s market share, and become a real contender in search. (Also, they have a rewards program for using their search engine, which is pretty cool)

Why This Is Important To You:

Two reasons:

Reason 1: Microsoft is really capitalizing on Google’s falters, and if more people start switching to Bing as their default search engine (I have) you can have an early mover advantage by re-optimizing for Bing (pure crazy talk I know)

While there are no definitive guides out there yet, many of the factors that seem to place more focus in a round about way the way a page might be viewed by users.

Reason 2: Microsoft invests in Facebook. Facebook already has some Bing integration. Facebook has been working on a social search engine for at least two months. *ahem* and the team is being lead by a former Google engineer…

If Bing’s redesign a part of a much larger master stroke that the public isn’t aware of yet, we’re about to witness the rise of semantic search, which means the more “likable” your content is, the better off you’re going to be.

Google Quietly Launches Google Offers in U.S

News Article In Question: Google Blog

Android Users in the U.S will now be able to enjoy Groupon-esque offers integrated directly into Google Maps on their phones.

Some Google Offers can be purchased and saved for later while others are immediately available for free. With free Google Offers, press “Use now” to redeem instantly or “Save for later” for future use. You can also opt-in to receive notifications in the app when there are offers near you.

Why This Is Important To You:

If you’re a business owner in a brick and mortar location, or you have a client that is, you will want to sign up for this immediately.

This tech mash up is the perfect intersection of user intent and incentive. Where most people are using Google Maps to find a place like a local shop, or restaurant, giving them further incentive to want to check you out is perfect for instant loyalty.

In our own businesses, we should always be looking for ways to engineer a little pleasant surprise for our would be customers.

How Eli Broad Works 24/7 And Still Gets 8 Hours of Sleep Every Night

News Article In Question: Fast Company

Eli Broad, a philanthropist and founder of Kaufman and Broad, a Fortune 500 home building company, shares his thoughts on how he’s been able to prioritize his time and enjoy life as a business and family man.

Thinking that everything is important, that every request from other people has to be answered with a yes, will make 24 hours seem inadequate. In fact, there are very few things that you truly have to do. This category should include only the things that make you run–the things you couldn’t live or work without. Nothing else comes close to being crucial.

Why This Is Important To You:

If you’re like me (who’s finishing this article up at 4:58 am), time is always eluding you. Even putting in 14-16-18 hour days sometimes isn’t enough.

This is not a good way to live, and while the pursuit of making money online is cool, so is working only on the important things that move you towards your goals, and ultimately, being able to spend time doing what it is that you love (like family).

This wraps up this week’s internet news.

Was there a story that stood out to you this week? Something here you’d like to discuss further?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Have a great weekend.

A key component to your blog’s success is getting organic traffic from people searching for what you’re writing about. Whether you write about a passion, your industry, or product reviews, getting targeted organic search engine traffic will help you get more unique visitors and earn more money.

In this article, I outline exact how to write blog posts (and even pages) and rank well in search engines for any topic. The steps and tips in this article are largely based on a cool plugin I use called SEOPressor, which helps me follow all these rules every time I write, without ever having to think about it. Without SEOPressor, I would barely have a clue on how to rank my content for myself or my clients.

Know Your Target

What this post will not help you do is identify your target audience or keywords. If you’re writing to rank for something, you should already know what you’re trying to rank for. Decide on your keywords and phrases. Keep in mind, the longer and more specific the phrase is, the easier it will be to rank for it. You can use tools like Google Adwords keyword tool to do this kind of research. I won’t go into much detail here as researching keywords and phrases and identifying your target market merits an entire article in itself.

With that said, here are the key points and steps to keep in mind when writing your content. Remember, SEOPressor literally makes the steps below a total breeze.

Headings With Keywords

You want to ensure that your keywords are somewhere within your header tags. You actually have to get quite specific here…

Ensure that you have your keywords in your H1 tag – this is like your title.

Have your keywords in your H2 tag – this can be any heading in your content.

Have your keywords in your H3 tag – this can be any sub-heading in your content.

You might think: If heading tags with keywords help rank my content, why don’t I just put ALL my content with keywords in h3 or something instead of a paragraph?

Simple, because Google will know what you’re trying to do, and there goes your ranking. They figured that one out many years ago.

This can be easy to forget, which is why I recommend SEOPressor so you never have to remember.

Keyword Density

You want to make sure you fall within the ideal keyword density of the terms you are trying to rank for. This means that you keywords or phrases should appear a certain amount of times throughout your content for it to rank well – not too little, not too much.

The ideal keyword density is 2% – 5%.

This means if you have a 200 word blog post, you should have your keywords appear 4 – 10 times. With any less, you’re not significant enough… with anymore, Google might think you’re sketchy.

This occasionally takes some basic math. Take your word count and divide it by the amount of times you mention your keyword phrase. You can see your Word count at the bottom of your post while writing:

Again, SEOPressor does this for you, so you never have to do any counting or even have to remember it.

Another tip on this: size does matter. There’s no specific rule for this, but generally a 600 – 800 word article will do better than a 400 word article. SEOPressor checks article length for you as well.

Optimize Your Images

You want to include your keyword or phrase in any images on your site. You do this by clicking the edit image icon and adding your keyword to “Alternate Text.”

SEOPressor will not only remind you to do this, it will actually do it for you automatically… so you never really have to think about it.

Underline and Italics On Keywords

It’s important that you underline your keywords something and put italics on them. Do the underline and italics for two separate occurrences of the keywords.

Again, SEOPressor to the rescue. Not only will it remind you, it will actually do it for you.

SEOPressor Will Rock Your World

The real key to powerful SEO is automating the process. SEOPressor does all the stuff above, and so much more, for you.

Check this out:

It literally checks everything for you, and a bunch of this stuff for you automatically. It even gives you an overall “SEO Score” and measures your keyword density. All you have to do is type in your keyword or phrase and let SEO Pressor do all the work.

This is like having an SEO Export standing next to you while you write every post or page.

Actually, it’s like having that SEO expert edit your post for you without you thinking about it!

If you already have a bunch of content on your blog and don’t want to go back through each post individually, SEO Pressor actually has a tool that scores all your posts and pages and makes individual suggestions. Check this out:

SEOPressor is awesome for you if:

• You have a niche site or blog
• You have a personal passion site, and want people in your community to find you
• You have a virtual assistant that writes for you
• You are a professional SEO consultant
• You have a web design business or you freelance
• You are totally new, and want to start off right

Anyway, I can’t recommend this enough. It will boost your ranks and save you countless hours… and help you make a lot more money in the process.

Even when I’m not particularly writing to rank for anything, but just to share, I keep my SEOPressor score in mind. It’s hard not to, since it actually tells me on every post.

What’s this thing cost?

The single site version is only $47, but I wouldn’t recommend that you buy it.

I have the multi-site version, and always recommend that it’s the version everyone buy… unless you know for sure you’ll always only have one site and domain. I use it on all my own sites and my clients’ sites.

It also comes with a 7 day trial for $7, so you can play around with it before you make a final decision. Of course… you’ll probably end up keeping it because you’ll be hooked.

Once you get SEOPressor and automate your SEO, make sure you take these other SEO practices into account as well…

• Create relevant permalinks for your posts and pages. Don’t always just rely on the title.
• Create custom descriptions for your posts, you can use a plugin like All In One SEO to do this.
• Do some external SEO. Get backlinks. Comment on blogs. And more… we’ll have an entire post on this later as a complement to this one.
• Actually follow all the suggestions SEOPressor gives you. While it automates a lot, it also tells you what you can personally tweak to improve each post and page.

If you have any questions, please comment below! Note that I’m not an SEO expert… I seriously do rely on this SEOPressor plugin to do the hard work and “research” for me.

Even if you don’t automate and simplify this process with the plugin, I hope the tips and tricks in this post were valuable for you and serve your blog!

Since Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team in 2000, the team’s winning percentage has gone from 40% to 69% and in 2011 the Mavericks won their first ever NBA championship.

Cuban also has a winning record in business. Born into a working class family, Mark became a billionaire by starting and selling tech companies such as MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com.

Keep reading for ten winning lessons from Cuban’s $2.3 billion success.

#1 Get Paid to Learn

Cuban paid his way through school any way he could. He worked as a disco instructor, party promoter, and even started a chain letter that earned about $1,100.

After graduating from business school, he didn’t stop learning:

If your career or business isn’t yet what you want it to be, adopt Cuban’s attitude and think of it as an opportunity to continue your education. One day you’ll be able to use what you learn to accomplish your ultimate goals.

#2 Visualize Your Success

In 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas and got a job as a bartender. What he really wanted to do was run his own business and retire by the age of 30. He told himself that he would do it “every day.”

After getting fired from his jobs as a salesperson at Your Business Software, Cuban decided the time was right to pursue his dream. He started his own software selling company, MicroSolutions, which he sold in 1990 for $6 million.

At the age of 32, Cuban was a millionaire who could afford to live in the big houses that he used to drive by as a down-on-his-luck bartender. More importantly, he was living the life of his dreams.

#3 Effort is the Only Requirement

Three years after starting MicroSolutions, business was good. Cuban was set to earn $60,000 that year and he was only 27 years old.

Even though he felt successful, Cuban saw major room for improvement. The PC industry was in a slump and local area networks had yet to take off like MicroSolutions had hoped. Cuban’s solution was to “recommit to getting up early, staying up late and consuming everything [he] possibly could to get an edge.”

The behavior of your industry, your clients, and your competitors is mostly outside of your hands. It’s pointless to become frustrated with things that you can’t control. Instead, focus on maximizing your effort.

#4 Sell High

In 1995, a few years after selling MicroSolutions, Cuban decided to help Chris Jaeb and Todd Wagner launch AudioNet, an Internet radio company that would soon be rebranded to Broadcast.com. Cuban became a billionaire overnight when they sold the company to Yahoo! in 1999 for $5.9 billion in stock.

With all the buzz building around Internet companies, it was the perfect time to sell. Just a year later, the dot-com bubble would burst and the perceived value of Broadcast.com would plummet.

Make sure you sell your company at the right time. Wait until the market is high for your industry in order to get the most money for your hard work.

#5 Diversify

After the sale of Broadcast.com, Cuban was left holding a huge chunk of Yahoo! stock. That stock that was not immune to the dot-com bubble either: it went from being traded at $118.75 a share in January 2000 to a measly $4.05 a share by September 2011.

Luckily for Cuban, he had already taken steps to diversify. Cuban explained to Fast Company Magazine:

The only way that Cuban was able to hold onto his fortune was by making sure all of his eggs weren’t in the same basket. After becoming a billionaire, Cuban immediately began spreading his wealth around in different industries: becoming the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HD cable network HDNet.

#6 Don’t Focus on Exit Strategy

Cuban has built his fortune by building successful companies and then selling them when the time is right. Even so, he insists that he’s always looking for a “cash-in-pocket strategy, not an exit strategy.” When Business Insider asked Cuban about how entrepreneurs should think about their exit strategies, he said:

The best exit strategy is to build a company with long-term, intrinsic value.

#7 Be a Loudmouth

I’ve written about the value of keeping your mouth shut and letting your actions speak for themselves. But Mark Cuban proves there are exceptions to this rule.

Cuban sometimes speaks first and thinks later – and the result is that he’s put his foot in his mouth more times than he can count. But while Cuban’s big mouth often gets him in hot water with the media, it also ensures that he gets “push back”:  a constant stream of reactions from the outside world. For Mark, the tradeoff is worth it.

If you’re natural tendency is to be a loudmouth, then you can benefit from embracing it. Just be ready to apologize.

#8 Get Free Press

Cuban has appeared as himself in TV shows like Entourage, The Colbert Report, and The Simpsons. He’s also had recurring roles on reality shows like Shark Tank and Dancing with the Stars.

Collectively, Cuban has reached tens of millions of Americans through these programs. That means greater awareness of Cuban and his personal brand – which ultimately can be leveraged to help Cuban’s business ventures.

#9 Know Your Business Better than Anyone

Cuban spends so much time researching his industries that he told TechCrunch, “I need a break because I spend so much time reading. If there’s something I get into, I won’t stop. I read a lot of industry trade publications for cable now.”

Cuban believes that, when it comes to creating a successful company, knowledge is power. His advice is simple, yet ambitious: “Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world.”

#10 Do Something Different

As an angel investor, Cuban is always looking for companies that demonstrate a clear sense of market differentiation. In fact, he immediately dismisses any companies that aren’t carving out their own niche: “Wherever I see people doing something the way it’s always been done, the way it’s ‘supposed’ to be done, following the same old trends, well, that’s just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.”

If you want to repeat something that’s already been done, then you open a franchise. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur like Mark Cuban, you’ll have to do something different.

When you’re up on current events, you can capitalize on trends, and tie your topic in to some of the major events that are going on in the world around you.

As such, we here at Income Diary have decided to do a weekly “internet news” wrap up so you can keep up with current events in the online world.

What you’ll find below are the top 10 headlines in online news from this past week, and if applicable, a lesson that can be tied into your own business.

This is something very new for us, and we want it to be extremely valuable for you, so please be sure to give us your feedback and let us know if this is something you’d like us to continue doing!

Films as Startups: How Indie Producers Build Buzz

News Article In Question: Mashable.com

More and more indie filmmakers are taking the concept of Minimum Viable Product, and applying it to their films.

Gone are the days of shopping a script around Hollywood waiting to get the Green Light.

Instead, filmmakers will create bite-sized “teasers” to showcase the film’s premise, rally an audience through social media channels, then either seek crowd funding, or shop the film (& audience) to major backers.

While not mentioned in the article, this is exactly how Mortal Kombat Rebirth turned into the series Mortal Kombat Legacy (Nsfw)

Why This Is Important To You:

What this article really emphasizes is that you no longer need “permission” to create.

It also highlights the importance of having an audience. Traditionally, a movie budget is a huge risk, requiring a large upfront investment for production and marketing without guarentee anyone will enjoy the film.

However, when you build an audience first using a smaller budget/production, you can better estimate costs for the full feature, and discover if the project as a whole is viable.

Google Brings More Real-Time Coverage, Google+ Comments To Google News

News Article In Question: Techcrunch.com

Google has expanded real-time coverage to show what people in your circles, journalists, and the subjects of the stories have to say about the event.

As of right now, these updates are only available to the U.S version of Google News.

Why This Is Important To You:

For our U.S readers, this means Google News is making itself extremely relevant as a research source for current events that can be tied into your blog.

The amount of time you’ll have to spend “digging” for various viewpoints surrounding a topic will be reduced significantly. You’ll can also add more context to your stories by incorporating the different viewpoints surrounding the topic.

Kickstarter Project Turns the Ipad into Apple’s first Touch Screen Laptop

News Article In Question: Fastcompany.com

Short version – Brydge turns your ipad into a touchscreen laptop.

Long version – The founders of Brydge saw a very large gap in the “Ipad keyboard” space stating:

“…when it comes to the iPad it felt like every keyboard or case is made from cheap materials, didn’t offer any range of iPad positioning or completely covered the entire iPad. Brydge was designed to complement the iPad, to improve productivity and enjoyment of the device…

Because it’s made of aluminum, the costs to manufacture Brydge are high–we turned to Kickstarter to raise the necessary capital to do manufacturing run. We also wanted to test the market and see if there was room for a high-quality aluminum keyboard.”

They raised over $400,000 in seed money by crowdfunding through Kickstarter.

Why This Is Important To You:

This is another example of people finding a gap, testing their idea, building a group of supporters and getting funded.

Something worth noting however is that their promotional video was extremely well produced, and positioned the product perfectly. This is very important because it shows their potential investors they take their idea seriously, not just pitching a concept from a grainy webcam.

Google Opens Startup Incubator in London

News Article In Question: Google’s Blog

The Internet accounts for 8% of the U.K’s Economy, which is why this partnership between Google, Central Working, Tech Hub, Seedcamp and Springboard, makes perfect sense.

Campus’ 7 story facility has been designed to nurture the startup community in London.

It will provide startups with workspace in an energizing environment and will also host daily events for and with the community. We will run a regular speaker series, alongside lectures and programing, as well as provide mentorship and training from local Google teams.

The co-working space will also feature free wifi and a Google cafe.

Why This Is Important To You:

If you’re in London, you’ll want to get in on this while it’s still early, I can only imagine the sort of relationships that will be formed in a Google owned co-working space.

If you’re not in London however, and you’re still working from home, you should really look to see what’s available for co-working spaces around you.

As someone who has done the “working from home” to “working at the office” transition, I can honestly tell you, being around other motivated business owners every single day helps keep you motivated, and creates valuable connections that you just can’t get when you’re working from home.

Bing Strips Down Search Results, Make’s Google Look “Overloaded”

News Article In Question: Techcrunch

If you can’t beat your competition with technology, you surly can beat them on usability.

At least that’s the philosophy behind Bing’s new redesign, which takes a much more minimalist and streamlined approach.

With Google’s rollout of “Search Plus Your World” and heavy focus of Google+ integration, Google Search feels, dare I say it Cluttered.

Here’s a 30,000 foot view of both engines showing the same search for Make Money Online.

While this particular search doesn’t show all of the different “integrated” properties like video, posts from your friends, images, etc… You can still see a very distinct difference between the two search results.

With many people complaining about the aesthetic of Google’s Search, a redesign was a very smart move on Bing’s part. With a cleaner interface and integration with people’s preferred social network, this could be the beginning of something very good for Bing.

Why This Is Important To You:

You might not be able to compete on the exact same terms, but if you’re doing your due diligence with your competitive analysis, you can improve where they are weak, and chip away at their customer base.

Also, timing is everything.

Facebook Let’s You Share Your Organs

News Article In Question: Facebook’s Blog

With the world’s largest social network pushing 1 billion users, they’ve decided to leverage their massive reach for social good.

Today, more than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more around the globe, are waiting for the heart, kidney or liver transplant that will save their lives. Many of those people – an average of 18 people per day – will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need. Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis.

Not only do they allow you to share your Organ Donation status, but for U.S users, you can also Register to Become an Organ Donor right in the platform.

Why This Is Important To You:

Aside from the obvious (if you’re in need of an organ), participating in – or creating your own – social good campaigns gives you a non “self-serving” cause to champion.

Pinstagram! How Two Friends Merged Pinterest and Instagram in Two Days

News Article In Question: Mashable.com

Yes, you read that right… Pinstagram. 

For 2012 Doomsday naysayers, this surely has to be a sign, right?

All kidding aside though, Pinstagram takes everything you love about taking photos with Instagram and mashes up the “waterfall layout” of Pinterest to create a visually appealing design for the desktop.

Why This Is Important To You: 

This again is another example of a creation that came about from a gap in the market.

Pek Pongpaet and Brandon Leonardo, Pinstagram’s creators, were displeased with the lack of a desktop interface for Instagram, and thought there to be a real need. So far, their users agree.

Also, this is a great demonstration of a Mashup – using two popular platforms and leveraging other’s success, to create their own fame.

What “platforms” (ideas or technology) could you Mashup?

Google Pledges $200 Million to Market Premium YouTube Channels

News Article In Question: Mashable.com

In case you missed it, back in October Google & Youtube invested $100 Million Dollars (insert Dr. Evil Laugh Here) to create a whole slew of Premium Content Channels.

These channels include premium content from Youtube celebrities like MysteryGuitarMan and real celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Tony Hawk, Shaq, and plenty others. Branded channels like Redbull, Slate, The Onion, are only among the few in this ever growing lineup.

Now that you’re caught up…

Google just pledged another $200 Million Dollars to market said premium channels.

Marketing will take place across Google’s Display Network, Youtube, and other branded channels. The goal is to better monetize Youtube, and have more enticing content for both users and Advertisers.

Why This Is Important To You: 

As more people are ditching their cable packages, and television networks are losing their advertising dollars, this could mark the beginning of a New Television.

While I could write 2,000 words on that subject alone, what’s really important here is many of the “premium” channels in this new lineup are run by YouTube ”partners”, all of whom started their channel with 0 views and subscribers.

This just goes to show when you focus on quality and building an audience who enjoys your work, you can be a part of something much bigger than you ever imagined.

Google Drive Launches… Google offer’s cloud storage across multiple properties

News Article In Question: Google Blog

Technically last week’s news, but hey, it’s still important.

Google Drive brings together many Google services—documents, spreadsheets, images and more—all in one place so you can easily create, collaborate, and share in real-time.

This description only scratches the surface of what the G-Drive is capable of. For starters, images that are saved in Google Drive can be brought up instantly in Google+. It also saves everything you’re working on automatically, and revisions can be tracked as far back as 30 days. It can also view up to 30 different file types right in the browser, even if you don’t have the original software. For a full list of features, Click Here

Also, storage with Google Drive is less expensive than most other cloud solutions.

Why This Is Important To You:

Location is increasingly less of a restraint when it comes to collaborative projects.

Using the cloud, you can work with anyone in the world without needing to send attachements, revisions, and the like back and fourth, so you can focus on what matters most, your productivity.

Facebook Announces IPO Price at Valuation of $96 Billion

News Article In Question: Business Week

We anticipate that the initial public offering price will be between $28.00 and $35.00 per share.”

Facebook being valued at $96 billion dollars makes the social network the most valuable U.S Internet Company at the time of IPO of all time.

The previous record, held by Google, was valued at $23 Billion when it went public.

Facebook being worth $96 Billion at the time of it’s IPO is significant, because according to this Google is currently worth 158.06B.

Google is 14 years old – Facebook is 8.

Why This Is Important To You:

The Social Network is going public with only a 62 billion dollar gap between it and it’s number one competitor.

This means 3 things.

1. “Social” and “The human algorithm” very clearly has a ton of value. We no longer find the news, the news finds us.
2. Timing is everything. Mark Zuckerberg said “no” to going public for a number of years. Knowing when the right time to execute is critical for the long term health of your business.
3. If you’re a person who likes investing, you should probably get your hands on Facebook stock now while it’s between $28 and $35. Google now trades at over $600/share just to put it in perspective

This wraps up this week’s internet news.

Because this is something new that we’re doing, let us know if you liked the format. Did you like the “Why this is important?” We want to make this the best blog for you as possible, so your feedback on new features like this is very welcomed.

2012 is proving that viral videos can be much more than clips of cats, cute babies, and people hurting themselves in funny ways. They can launch companies and movements.

But while many websites try to manufacture viral videos to promote their business, nearly all fall short of their million-view expectations. It isn’t just a matter of luck: there’s a science behind social video marketing.

Below I take a look at the three biggest viral video sensations of 2012 (so far) and break down exactly how their view counts exploded.

A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE

In order to help launch their television network in Belgium, TNT turned to the ad agency Duval Guillaume. Since TNT’s forte is drama, Duval Guillaume devised something dramatic for a YouTube video — and the resulting video shot to the top of the charts (14 million views in its first three days).

How “A DRAMATIC SURPRISE” Went Viral:

It Strikes Your Curiosity Early

Within the first ten seconds of the video, every person watching has a burning question on his or her mind: what happens when you press the button?

Nearly eight years of video content is uploaded to YouTube every day, so it’s absolutely essential that a video grab the viewer’s attention before they decide to watch something else.

It Uses Real People and Real-Life Footage

The best part of “A DRAMATIC SURPRISE” isn’t the fast-paced stunt work. It’s watching the expressions on the faces of the normal, everyday citizens who just so happened to press the drama button. Watching them go from curiosity, to horror, and finally to delight is truly a sight to behold.

Having watched thousands of advertisements with paid actors and scripted dialogue, it’s refreshing when a video shows honest, unfiltered reactions. Of course, real-life footage is best when the reactions are to public shootouts and scantily clad women speeding by on motorcycles.

It’s Cross-Cultural

While TNT was just trying to target Belgium with “A DRAMATIC SURPRISE”, the appeal of the video is worldwide. Anybody can appreciate the wonder of watching extraordinary drama unfold in an otherwise very ordinary square. The language barrier is minimal, as no words are spoken throughout the entire sequence.

This universality means that the video has been viewed all over the world, becoming the day’s most watched YouTube videos in countries as diverse as South Korea, South Africa, and Sweden. The more global a video is, the better its potential to break out into the stratosphere of YouTube views. This is especially valuable for an international brand like TNT.

The Result:

Just three weeks after the video’s release, we don’t know how effective this promotion has been in getting more subscribers to TNT’s Flemish channel. But with over 30 million views already, it’s safe to say the campaign has been a dramatic success.

DollarShaveClub.com – Our Blades Are F***ing Great

On March 6, 2012 a little-known startup called DollarShaveClub.com quietly uploaded a promotional video to YouTube. The short video starred the CEO and founder of the company, Michael Durbin, and cost about $4500 to produce.

Four days later, on March 10, the video had been viewed over two million times – and overnight it transformed DollarShaveClub.com from a struggling upstart into a profitable business.

How Dollar Shave Club went Viral:

It Stayed Short

Television commercials are usually 30 seconds long. YouTube videos can be as long as you want.

But longer isn’t always better – especially when it comes to viral marketing. In today’s fast-moving Internet landscape, five minutes seems like a long time to sit and watch a video.

DollarShaveClub.com got the length just right with their video. Clocking in at about a minute and a half, the video is short enough to be viewed casually but long enough to convey a complete message.

It Made People Laugh

People share funny stuff online because everybody likes to laugh. The funnier a video is, the more likely it will go viral. Another reason humor is important is because it contributes to trust and likeability, both huge factors in sales.

The Dollar Shave Club video is hilarious but – even more impressively – it manages to be hilarious while still delivering an effective sales pitch. Watch carefully and you’ll notice that in each joke Durbin is illustrating a feature, advantage, benefit, or overcoming a possible objection.

You might be wondering why a CEO like Michael Durbin is so funny. The answer is that he honed his comedic chops performing improv and sketch comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade.

It Took Risks

Michael Durbin probably “should have” made a more traditional, safe video for his beloved startup. Instead, he decided dance with a leaf blower next to a guy in a bear suit and a warehouse employee named Alejandro.

After watching the finished product, it’s obvious that Durbin made the right decision. But if he hadn’t been willing to risk making a fool of himself, you probably wouldn’t know what Dollar Shave Club was.

It Got Noticed

Within 24 hours of being posted, “DollarShaveClub.com – Our Blades Are F***ing Great” was the number one trending topic on Reddit.

That same day, the video was featured in articles on a host of sites, including TechCrunch and Mashable. The Mashable article, titled “Is This the Best Startup Launch Video Ever?”, has received over 7,000 combined Tweets and Likes.

It isn’t just a happy accident that the video got all of this attention. It’s simply the result of an original, hilarious, and otherwise remarkable video.

The Result:

The day “DollarShaveClub.com – Our Blades are F***ing Great” was released, 5,000 people subscribed to get razors delivered to their door every month. That’s amazing. But it’s even more amazing when you know that the website was crashing all day long from too much traffic.

Today, the video has about 4.5 million views and Durbin is no longer revealing the number of people subscribed to his service (though we know it’s at least 12,000). Another video is planned for this Father’s Day.

Kony 2012

Invisible Children posted a video called “Kony 2012” on their YouTube channel on March 5, 2012 and in that moment the world of online video changed forever.

Six days later, the 30 minute video had already amassed 100 million views on YouTube (the fastest ever). “Kony 2012” isn’t just the most viral video of 2012. It’s the most viral video of all time.

How KONY 2012 Went Viral:

It Started with an Existing Community

It seemed like “Kony 2012” came out of nowhere. But like most “overnight successes”, the video’s popularity was actually years in the making. Director Jason Russell and Invisible Children had already strung together several successful Kony awareness campaigns. These included high schools assemblies, public demonstrations, and even the support of Oprah Winfrey.

So when the video launched, there was already a large and receptive community ready to watch it and click ‘share’. This is how “Kony 2012” got 66,000 views in its first day.

It Blew Up thanks to Tweeting Celebrities

Twitter has allowed celebrities to gain influence by amassing millions of followers. It has also given those millions of followers a small chance of influencing celebrities back.

“Kony 2012” took full advantage by encouraging viewers to reach out to 20 of the world’s most influential celebrities. This is what pushed the video over the edge: Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and P Diddy all chimed on Twitter to support the #StopKony movement.

The biggest tweet came from Oprah Winfrey. On the day Oprah mentioned Kony to her 9.6 million Twitter followers, “Kony 2012” saw a 13,536% increase in views (about 9 million in total).

It Reached Critical Mass

Once “Kony 2012” started rolling, there was no stopping it. Kony was averaging about 1.3 million mentions on Twitter per day. Meanwhile, his name was at the top of every Facebook feed on the planet.

This lead to so many views, that the international media started paying attention – and writing cover stories on increasingly viral video. Invisible Children had officially reached their goal of making “Kony world news.”

Persuasive Techniques:

Below I’ll delve a little bit deeper into the exact methods that Jason Russell used to make “Kony 2012” one of the most persuasively potent short films of all time.

It’s Personal

“Kony 2012” is about a complex geopolitical problem. If that’s the way the video were framed, it would never have gotten more than a few million views.

Instead, Jason Russell lets us into his life and family. He shows us videos from his personal Facebook timeline. Then, when it’s time to show the struggle of Ugandan children, he doesn’t tell you about all of children, but rather one kid: Jacob.

It’s only by telling personal stories that the audience is able to make a personal connection with the video.

It Pulls at Your Heart Strings

“Kony 2012” starts out with some emotionally-charged scenes, like a child being rescued from a cave and a deaf person hearing for the first time. But the video goes straight for the heart when it shows a teenaged Jacob sobbing and saying he would rather be dead than continue living under the oppression of the Joseph Kony and the LRA.

When people feel an emotional connection with your video, they’re more likely to put their guard down and just listen. More importantly, the deeper connection they feel with the message will compel them to take action.

It Creates a Sense of Urgency

Once uploaded, a YouTube video is there forever. So, why does Jason Russell claim that the Kony 2012 video will “expire” on December 31^st 2012?

Any salesperson could tell you: people respond to deadlines. Invisible Children planted a seed of urgency in the mind of their viewer so they would be more likely to act immediately.

It Establishes Authority

Trust is hard to come by online, but it’s also essential if you want people to sit through a 30 minute video (and then share it at the end). Since people are socialized to trust authority, one way to help convince people to trust you is to establish yourself as an authority or borrow the authority of others.

“Kony 2012” does just that by panning over official documents and interviewing authoritative experts on the Joseph Kony (including the head prosecutor for the International Criminal Court and a several Ugandan politicians).

It Offers Social Proof

People trust other people more than they trust companies, organizations, and YouTube videos.

That’s why “Kony 2012” features so many shots of crowds of young people wearing their shirts and shouting their slogans. There’s also a brief clip where they show the 600,000+ fans that the movement had on Facebook.

The video also encourages viewers to order an “Action Pack” which includes two bracelets – one for the viewer and one for a friend. The extra bracelet gives everybody who orders the action pack an incentive to bring another person into the movement, thus doubling its effectiveness and encouraging all-important word of mouth.

If Provides a Clear Call to Action

Uncertainty usually leads to inaction. That’s why the last thirty seconds of “Kony 2012” give the viewer “three things you can do right now.”

The end of a video is the best time to let the audience know exactly what you want them to do.

The Result:

As of April 13, 2012, “Kony 2012” had surpassed 180 million views (including views on social networking sites) and garnered at least 3.6 million pledges to Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign. The Invisible Children Facebook page has gone from a few hundred thousand likes to a few million.

On the other hand, the public’s enthusiasm for the cause has been largely short-lived and the campaign has met with a great deal of controversy (many argue that simply drawing attention to Joseph Kony actually hurts the cause).

Whatever your opinion, there’s no doubt that “Kony 2012” has set a new benchmark for what a viral YouTube video is capable of accomplishing.

What are the Common Threads?

At first glance, these three videos couldn’t be more different from one another. One is dramatic hidden camera footage. One’s a series of punch lines. And one is a 30 minute film dedicated to the capture of an international criminal.

But underneath the surface, the three videos share strong commonalities. They’re all engaging from start to finish. They’ve all got that a professional polish. Most of all, they’re all something that people can get behind, talk about, and share with one another.

After watching these three remarkable viral videos what common threads stand out to you?

Instead of going into a crazy long lead in with this post, I figure I’ll just jump right in with the tips.

If there’s something you’ve tried, and it worked, leave it in the comments, and I’ll be sure to add it to the list.

Let’s make this the most epic traffic getting article on the web!

1. Write Guest Posts

Probe for the opportunity, do your research on the audience, and suggest a topic as part of your request for a guest posting opportunity.

2. Create Mind-Blowing Content

Minds are not blown by reiterating the same points everyone else is. If it’s the same thing everyone else is saying, make it your own by arguing, defending, or somehow adding to it.

3. Offer Freebies

Make sure what you’re offering is high quality, and make sure it’s something people can actually use. If it’s something with an already-established price, drop that information into the offer. If not, let them know how much it will cost, after the promotion is done. If simply coming to your site is all it takes to save them a possible $20 in the future, they’ll come just to be sure.

4. Create A Course

I’ve seen this done by dozens of different companies and it never gets old. Information is valuable. Entice readers with a series of posts, videos, or even automated emails teaching them something vital.

5. Interview Influencers In Your Field

By interviewing power players you are not only enhancing your existing audience’s experience of your site, but you’re building an important relationship with someone in your field. Not only that but a slice of their audience will come your way as well, to hear what their favorite guru shared with you.

6. Tweet Often

Automated content programs are great, and have their place, but since Twitter is a social arena the best way to get retweeted is to be yourself. Share your thoughts and allow Twitter to show a bit of who you are, and your followers will be more likely to want to read your latest post or watch your latest video, not to mention sharing it with their followers. It’s what friends do, right?

7. Don’t Neglect Your Facebook Page

Assuming you have already created a Facebook page for your business, make sure you use it. Add a “like” box to your site and encourage your fans to share with each other. And remember – Facebook isn’t anonymous. A simple, personal “thank you” to the folks who share will encourage them to share in the future.

8. Create Infographics

With sites like reddit, digg, and even 9gag.com, infographics can bring you a lot of traffic quickly. Why? Because people like to absorb information as rapidly as possible, and if that information is detailed or extensive, it’s easier to stay focused if there is a strong visual aspect.

9. Compile A Hack List

Everyone has a handful of tips or tricks that they use almost without realizing it. Focus on what you do differently from everyone else and make a short .pdf or e-book about it. It may be anything from organizing a home office to editing a video in less than X number of hours. Whatever it is, put it in a document and share it with people.

10. Create Helpful Tutorials

People love DIY videos, and it doesn’t matter at all what they are about, as long as you can speak knowledgeably on your chosen subject and be interesting. Chefs and crafters have been doing this for years, but why not create a five minute video showing a part of your day that is unique to your business?

11. Hold a Subscriber Contest

This can be a one-off or a regular contest for your audience that encourages them to bring people your way.
You can track links to see how many subscribers someone has referred, or you can just do it lottery style by offering a prize to a randomly-selected member once you’ve reached a certain subscriber count.

12. Use Sharing Plugins

I can’t imagine why, in 2012, people would still choose not to add social sharing buttons to their work. Maybe they just don’t like the way it looks. Aesthetics aside, you will do more harm than good by neglecting to provide these buttons, since people hate to click away from a page. If they want to share and you don’t give them an easy way to do it, they will either simply not share your work, or they’ll click over to Facebook to post the link themselves. And once they’re on Facebook, good luck getting their attention back on yourself.

13. Connect with Your Audience Via Podcast

For awhile, it seemed like everyone forgot about podcasting. But it’s on the rise again, and with good reason. Being able to subscribe to a podcast means your audience is connecting with your voice and hearing your thoughts, which keeps your words top of mind when they are in a position to recommend you to someone else.

14. Simplify Starting Points

There’s nothing worse than referring a friend or coworker to a site loaded with information and having to tell them, “To start, you’ll want to search for this post titled, I think it was… I can’t remember, something like—” Create a page that will act as a starting point to give visitors a frame of reference within your site, and create a page that is about you or your brand.

15. Create Your Own 404 Error Page

While you don’t want people to end up here on purpose, you also know it will happen every now and again. Instead of losing their interest with a dead-end “oops!” page, revamp the error page to suggest other core content. The most effective 404 pages I have seen offer a link to the “start here” page, core content, and an archive search tool.

16. Make The Most Of Signatures

When you send an email, is your site linked to your signature? When you communicate via email, each email is an opportunity to draw that person to your site. Plus, if your email is forwarded along or shared with colleagues, your link will be right there for them, too.

17. Highlight Popular Posts

Make it easy for your audience to find and share the posts that made them think of you. So much new traffic that comes from existing subscribers is because they’re’ talking about you. You have become relevant to their conversation. Don’t bring their conversation to a halt by making them dig through your site to find a link.

18. Build Backlinks

Easier said than done, this will usually require you to either a) purchase the link or b) build a relationship with the site you want the link from. A may be quicker, but B is the safest bet in terms of search rankings. Not to mention, building relationships with influential people is just as helpful to your business as a quality link is.

19.Optimize Title Tags

If you are trying to rank for certain keywords, make sure you’re using them properly for Google to notice them. Your title should be clear and concise, feature your keyword, and not be overly short or long. Try to keep it under 70 characters, maximum.

20. Optimize for Mobile

Smartphones make up approximately one quarter of all mobile usage. Common complaints smartphone users will make about a website are: clicking an external link to a site that redirects to a mobile homepage instead of the intended article, sites that do not resize or utilize scripting that is unusable on a smartphone, and sites built so poorly that even the desktop version doesn’t fit itself to a smartphone screen.

21. Create a Forum

Managing a community on your own website may be tricky, but paid dividends in keeping conversations alive at all hours of the day or night. It’s a great way to see what your audience is really like, and a fantastic source for content or inspiration.

22. Do Your Keyword Research

Google offers an easy to use keyword research tool to test competition for key terms. By researching during the content creation process you’ll be able to fill in the gaps for lesser-searched terms as well as pursue the #1 spot for more competitive words.

23. Advertise on Facebook

Facebook is expecting to reach one billion users by August. You can advertise to your target market for a few dollars per month.

24. Advertise using AdWords

Google is literally almost everywhere online.

25. Create a comprehensive list

Not only will lists get shared when they are initially posted, they will also continue to bring traffic over time provided they do not become outdated.

26. Leave Thoughtful Comments

Spark conversation. Get people thinking. You know, that sort of thing.

27. Open The Door For Real Discussion

Most people are pretty good at providing a call to action at the end of their post or video, but it’s rare that the post actually inspires discussion. Present a divisive situation, controversial information, or a stance where opinions vary wildly and provide links to more information or opposing viewpoints. Lead the conversation to an educated place and get beyond the simple, “What do you think?”-type call to action.

28. Ask For Tips Or Advice

If there’s one thing people will share even more willingly than their opinion, it’s advice. You don’t necessarily have to need their advice to ask for it.

29. Do A Compilation of Recommended Content

Bloggers and site owners with high traffic stats frequently provide a weekly content roundup. Check out sites like marksdailyapple.com or everywhereist.com to see examples of valuable information, briefly discussed and shared with the audience.

30. Create or Join Niche Groups

Forums, Facebook groups, off-Facebook social networks: get yourself out there, put a link to your stuff in your profile, and start meeting real people who are interested in the same things you are. If you can’t find a group, create one using Ning.com, or go local with Meetup.com

31. Comment Strategically

When you choose which websites to comment on, it’s not enough that they have a high follower count. You want to find sites that have consistently high comment counts, and only comment where you will provide value. “Great post!” is not something that inspires other commenters to click, but a thoughtfully presented piece of information definitely will pique their curiosity about who you are and what else you know.

32. Link to Others Strategically

When traffic comes in from a new source, most people don’t mind finding a context for a return link in a future post. When you select a site to link to, choose one that is well-trafficked and also somehow related to the information you are providing.

33. Be Audacious

State your beliefs boldly. Trying to please everyone will turn your readers off. The ones who believe what you believe will share your work because it’s in line with their own thoughts. That’s how you find the true evangelicals among your audience.

34. Take An Alternate Position

When content goes viral, there’s always a wave of dissenters. Be at their forefront by going toe-to-toe in the same way it’s presented. Be as funny, as engaging, but most importantly: be as informative as the original, and explain why it’s all wrong.

35. Create A Competition Between Yourself and Someone Else

It’s nice if they’re in on the gag, but they don’t have to be. Look at the Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN Twitter follower competition, or the success of Regretsy as it takes on a one-sided fight with Etsy.com.

36. Tell A Story

In the rush to be entertaining and provide value, storytelling is a lost art. That’s exactly why it’s such a valuable tool to encourage sharing of your content: stories appeal to a wider audience than your niche.

37. Tell A Story With A Cliffhanger

Series posts are fascinating. Not only will cliffhangers keep your audience engaged and talking among themselves about what happens next, you’ll get more subscribers when people are afraid of missing something.

38. Do Research and Report Your Findings

Simply put, provide indisputable information that is of interest to your market and explain why this information should matter to them.

39. Debunk A Myth

There’s a reason mythbusters is such a popular television show. The internet has been around long enough that Old Wives’ Tales are starting to take hold in the collective subconscious. Choose one, experiment with it, share it.

40. Switch Posting Style

By switching up your posting style you’re inviting traffic from a whole new wave of people. Do you normally write? Try a video and get the YouTube audience on board. Do you normally podcast? Create an infographic and share it with image-based platforms.

41. Continue A Thought Started Elsewhere

Take a popular post from an influential figure and say, “What this posts neglects to mention is…” Talk about the effects of putting their information into practice, reveal the process that led to their conclusion, anything. Just add more.

42. Admit A Mistake

Did you design your website poorly? Run a bad ad campaign? Give false information unknowingly? Get on the wrong side of a debate? Talk it out.

43. Summarize What You’ve Learned Upon Reaching A Milestone

Milestones can be anything from the half-birthday of your blog to the 500th post, to the 10000th subscriber. Summarize the journey that took you from point A to point B and where you hope to go next.

44. Address A common Problem In Your Niche

Rampant bad information, poor customer service, Facebook timeline: find something you can all complain about together, but don’t just end there. Present a workable solution or lead a revolution to get people really invested in sharing your post.

45. Expose Little-Known Secrets Of Your Industry

This is not so much for the insiders in your industry, who will know these things already. This is for everyone else, because gossip sells.

46. Dissect A Popularly-Held Thought Or Trope Taught By Your Industry Leader

You can disprove their teaching if you want to, or simply provide your audience with more information on it. Just because the information is already out there doesn’t meant they’ve seen it already.

47. Write A Post That Exposes The Fruitlessness Of Certain Actions

By doing this you will help people avoid wasting time, which is incredibly valuable.

48. Address FAQs

By addressing FAQs you’re skipping the background information and providing people what what most of them really want to know. The bonus here is that this can become part of your site’s core content after it’s published.

49. Elevate Something “Good” to “Great” And Defend Its Title

You’ll see this done all the time with Twitter. Take something underappreciated or mundane and tell people why it rocks, and how to make it work harder for them than they ever imagined possible.

50. Select A Blog Theme For A Set Amount Of Time

You can choose to do a 7-day spread of a month-long run on a topic. By doing so you establish yourself as an authority and create a reliable stream of traffic during that time.

51. Host A Post “Carnival”

Get other bloggers involved in writing posts on a certain topic with round-robin links to the other posts. Typically the topic is posted a month in advance and as many bloggers as possible contribute their take on the matter. The hosting site publishes all the content (or the best of the best) and links to the authors, and the authors post their own and link to other posts on the hosting site for further reading

52. Trade Links With A Select Group

Introduce yourself and your reason for being online, and arrange a shared link-trade with other folks in your niche.

53. Sponsor Things

Sponsor a tweet-up, a free webinar, a charity event, sports team, or contest with a desirable prize.

54. Add An Unexpected Dimension To Your Site

This is a chance to have a little fun and share your creative side. Add your flickr stream, a playlist of the music you listen to while working, or a marketplace of odd items you’ve collected and are now selling.

55. Make The Value Obvious

Ever seen a headline and shared the info before you even had a chance to read it, because it was that important? Make it possible for people to do that for you by being sharp, specific, and useful.

56. Move Outside Your Circle

Once you’re established in a field it’s easy to share posts with, tweet to, and create content with the same handful of professionals. this is great at first, but stagnates quickly unless you are part of a well-known power team. if you aren’t gaining or maintaining traction, expand your circle to include new folks with new audiences.

57. Increase Visibility Rapidly

Set a goal of making a splash in a few different places within a set amount of time. Fifty guest blog posts in thirty days, a video marathon, name your own price consulting offers all work very well.

58. Reply To Everyone

Spammers aside, everyone who goes out of their way to contribute to your conversation deserves acknowledgment.

59. Cover An Event

If you can get to one of the cornerstone events that happen on a regular basis, do so and share it with your audience as it happens. make use of all the tools available, twitter, photos, video, and live-blogging to get as deep into the experience as possible.

60. Report Important News

It may seem like everyone is talking about the latest thing google did or the latest stats released by Facebook, but none of them are giving it your spin. Present the info to your audience and give a commentary on what it means for you, your audience, or the rest of the world and why exactly everyone is up in arms over it.

61. Compete With Yourself

People love to see limits pushed. Set a public goal (365 project, 1000 words per day for 30 days, a one-minute video every hour for 24 hours, etc.) and then execute.

62. Be Inspiring

Tell your audience about overcoming adversity, or the mindset necessary to do so. Encourage them to keep trying, or set up a challenge that they can use as motivation to complete something important.

63. Share The Love

Sharing the best comments you’ve received encourages more interaction as well as entertains your fanbase.

64. Share The Hate

People love a good beatdown, even better if it’s presented with a dose of good humor. It’s entertaining and gets people on your side.

65. Find Your Most Influential Sharers

Offer exclusive content or news to your most influential sharers to encourage them to be proactive on your behalf.

66. Write About Companies or People with “News” Scanners

Companies with alerts for links related to their content will frequently link back, share, and/or retweet articles where they are mentioned and linked to.

67. Take A Survey

People like giving feedback, moreso if there’s an incentive. Set up a poll or survey and ask participants to leave a comment or send a tweet with your hashtag as notification they participated. In exchange, select one at random to receive a “thank you” prize.

68. “Update” A Popular Post

The internet has ramped up the speed with which things go out of date, so update your own or someone else’s post trafficked post with refreshed stats, images, and research.

69. Increase Variety With Daily Posts

Assign a post style to each day of the week. You can classify posts by the kind of information you plan to provide (research, conceptual, review, news, reader-requested) or the format in which you present the information (article, video, podcast, infographic, link roundup.)

70. Post Free Reviews

Review a new tool or popular information source. Make sure your readers know it is done for their benefit, and isn’t a paid post.

71. Do a Sponsored Post

You can solicit these from companies with varying degrees of luck or have them requested of you, depending on your notoriety.

72. Use Something Beloved As A Metaphor

Was there a great toy in your childhood whose very mention makes you nostalgic? What about a television show, a fad item, or even a movie that’s popular now? Show your audience what there is to be learned from the lovable qualities of whatever you choose and gain a level of cult appeal with your post.

73. Introduce A Newcomer

Nothing moves you up the social hierarchy than being the one to introduce someone newer than yourself. Take an interest in the work of the newbies; not only can you collaborate as their career grows, but they and their fledgling network will appreciate the exposure.

74. Interview a Veteran Of Your Field

Do your research. Everyone asks how someone got their start, what they like and dislike about their job, and what they’re working on now. Read their blog, dig deep, and get information out of them that they don’t usually get a chance to share.

75. Interview Someone from “Behind the Scenes”

Your assistant has a different take on things than you do. The small business owner you buy your coffee from has learned a thing or two about marketing, longevity, customer service. Give voice to their unique perspective on your platform.

76. Be Brief

Lengthy posts (like reports, or lists) have their place, but on occasion it’s worth boiling your thoughts down to the most critical points. This is also a great way to be quoted more.

77. Start At The Begining

You may want to attract readers at or above a certain level in the field, and the best way to ensure you find them is to create them yourself. Start at the first step and invest time in teaching them along the way. Within a few months you’ll be writing at a higher level than anticipated, and the context for people to catch up will be in your archives.

78. Post On Weekdays

Web traffic is proven to be higher during the week, take advantage of the peak posting time.

79. Post On Weekends

Since so many sites only post during the week, your content will stand out more. Don’t cheat the weekend readers with weak information, but do aim for conciseness.

80. Invent Something Unique

My new favorite obsession is ZeFrank, who is constantly offering new games, softwares, songs, and generally just engaging his audience wherever they are.

81. Make Your Work A Game

Make a theme of an ongoing game (i.e. Social Media Bingo with a “board” made of stereotypes) and do a post for each square that deserves a mark.

82. Create A Game for Your Audience

Using the Social Media Bingo example referenced above, get your audience in on the game. Send them out as scouts for articles or information that can be used in the game and have them post it on your site to participate in the game.

83. Lead Up To A Great Reveal

More involved than a story with cliffhangers, this involves setting a phenomenal endpoint that will impress, intrigue, and help your audience. Seed posts to build anticipation, throw them slightly off the scent, keep them guessing.

84. Don’t Waste Time Waiting For Epic

“Epic” content is important but if you are only willing to share earth-shattering information, your blog will be silent a lot of the time. You need traffic between paradigm shifts, so I encourage you to pursue epic, but settle for extraordinary more often than not.

85. Use Analytics To Find Opportunities

Analytic software can tell you where your traffic is coming from. They provide this information because you are supposed to use it. You may be popular in a totally unrelated field, and that’s ok – play to those strengths to bring people into the fold.

86. Update Less Frequently

Updating frequently is great, when you’ve got a multi-author site (like this one) but if you’re just one person, don’t break your back trying to get posts out once or twice a day. Instead, follow the 80/20 rule. 80% promotion/20% creation. That way, people will actually see your work.

87. Use Links Wisely (i.e., Sparingly)

If you make your readers slog through three blog posts on other sites just to understand the context that you’re writing in, you’ll lose them. They’ll get distracted, bored, or run out of time. Provide enough information to express your point clearly, with links added for support or further reading.

88. Have Patience

Don’t constantly nag your audience to share, and don’t expect that traffic will spike to an all-time high overnight. If you look for results too soon, you’ll miss them as they’re happening.

89. Get On A Soapbox

Put your support behind a cause and tell people exactly why you feel the way you do. Passion is moving and engaging, whether it’s directly related to your usual content or not.

90. Show Folks A “Day In The Life”

There are a hundred ways to do this. A cartoon panel, youtube clip, time lapse video, photo album, a playlist of your typical day expressed in songs, or a sample of your schedule. Let your audience know you.

91. Explain Industry Terminology

If your niche has its own jargon, or uses common words in an atypical way, create a list of the top ten or twenty most commonly used and explain them for your audience.

92. Update Your Mission Statement

You may or may not have posted your initial mission statement on your blog or website, but don’t let that stop you. Update it with your new goals and let it open discussion with your readers.

93. Know Your Memes

Memes are an important part of internet culture, and no businessman is so serious that an internet denizen would question his participation in a popular meme. They’re entertaining and viral by nature, and seeing a normally serious person take part in some silliness is eye-catching.

94. Encourage Digging In Your Archives

Communication styles change over time. The way you blog or create videos now is different than it was a year ago. Find snippets that are funny, terrible, unexpectedly insightful, or straight up embarrassing and quote yourself.

95. Make Something “For Dummies”

Create an e-book or how-to video on how to accomplish a complicated task or how to digest and comprehend important information.

96. Install A Translator

Some browsers come with a built-in translator, but some don’t. Grab a plugin to reach an audience beyond your native tongue.

97. Answer Questions

Participate in advice forums, LinkedIn, Quora, even Yahoo Answers. Keep your answers concise so they pack a punch, and make sure your site is linked in your profile.

98. Say What Everyone Else Is Thinking

Pretty self-explanatory. People appreciate when someone else addresses the elephant in the room. Things that are glaringly obvious in their wrongness, but go uncorrected because of “etiquette” obviously need shaking up by someone daring.

99. Be Reachable

When you create an online presence you give people the impression you’re merely an email or tweet away. Do your best to actually be that available to your audience.

100. Be Ready To Capitalize On Your 15 Minutes

Have a plan for making the most of the traffic spikes when they come. Are you going to push for sales? Subscriptions? Shares? Will you thank each individual person who RTs or comments on your work? Nail down details and make your traffic increase permanent.

101. Leverage

Traffic is not a game that just “happens.” When something good happens, like a huge guest post, or a big time interview, use that to your advantage, and reach out to other BIG names that might find value from it, and ask if you can do the same for them. Everything is a springboard for something else, so always leverage everything you can.

Are you completely successful?

By the time you get to the bottom of this page, you may be.

Success is all about having the right mindset. That’s why I’ve compiled 50 of the most powerful perspectives on success from some of history’s most successful people. Their definitions, quotations, formulas, misconceptions, and principles paint a clear picture of the mindset of a success.

Top 10 Definitions of Success

#1 Winston Churchill:

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

#2 Deepak Chopra:

“Success in life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.”

#3 Jim Rohn:

“Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

#4 Anita Roddick:

“I want to define success by redefining it. For me it isn’t that solely mythical definition – glamour, allure, power of wealth, and the privilege from care. Any definition of success should be personal because it’s so transitory. It’s about shaping my own destiny.”

#5 Richard Branson:

“It is the satisfaction of doing it for yourself and motivating others to work with you in bringing it about. It is about the fun, innovation, creativity with the rewards being far greater than purely financial.”

#6 Orison Swett Marden:

“When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success.”

#7 Zig Ziglar:

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”

#8 George Sheehan:

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”

#9 Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Success:  To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded!”

#10 Wilfred Peterson:

“Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.”

Top 10 Quotes on Success

#1 Thomas Edison:

“Success is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

#2 Dorothea Brande:

“Act as though it is impossible to fail.”

#3 Woody Allen:

“Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.”

#4 Mark Victor Hansen:

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

#5 Yoda:

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

#6 Taryn Rose:

“Fear regret more than failure.”

#7 Edward Simmons:

“The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right.”

#8 Abraham Lincoln:

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.”

#9 George Bernard Shaw:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

#10 Anonymous:

“God gave us two ends: one to sit on and one to think with. Success depends on which one you use. Heads you win; tails, you lose.”

Top 10 Formulas for Success

#1 Albert Einstein:

“If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.”

#2 Thomas J. Watson:

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.”

#3 Stanley Tang:

“Success comes down to hard work plus passion, over time.”

#4 Swami Vivekananda:

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life: think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”

#5 Mark Twain:

“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”

#6 Napoleon Hill

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”

#7 James Allen:

“For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?”

#8 Unknown:

“Success = an optimist in thought + a pessimist in action.”

#9 Anonymous:

“An Unfailing Success Plan: At each day’s end write down the six most important things to do tomorrow; number them in order of importance, and then do them.”

#10 Arnold H. Glasgow:

“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.”

Top 10 Misconceptions about Success

#1 Success is Complicated

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Steve Jobs

You can make success as complicated as you want, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As Jobs says, making success simple isn’t necessarily easy, but it is very powerful.

Take Google for example: their home page is one of the simplest on the web and that simplicity has allowed it to become the most popular site in the world.

#2 Success is a Destination

It’s tempting to think about success as some far-off point where you’ve accomplished everything we’ve ever wanted: “I’ll be successful when I have my dream job, make a million dollars a year, and spend all my time traveling the world with my soul mate.”

This type of thinking is flawed because the accomplishment of worthy goals only leads to the possibility of accomplishing more worthy goals. A successful person doesn’t stop once they achieve something; they’re inspired to achieve something even greater. Success is an ongoing path. As Ben Sweetland said, “Success is a journey, not a destination.”

#3 Success is the Key to Happiness

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.”

Herman Cain

If you’re unhappy, don’t blame it on a lack of success. Happiness is all about perspective. If you’ve got a cheerful outlook, it doesn’t matter if you’re a success or failure.

#4 Failure is an Indicator that You Won’t Succeed

“The hardest part about being an entrepreneur is that you’ll fail ten times for every success.”

Adam Horwitz

Everybody fails. In fact, successful people fail more than failures because they take bigger chances. If you want proof, then check out the four biggest mistakes from the world’s four biggest entrepreneurs.

Failures are necessary on the path of success. Just learn from them and move on.

#5 Success Comes at the Expense of Others

Some people think that the only way you can move up in business is by stepping on people to get there.

The truth is actually the opposite: a business is successful because it provides value for people. As I’ve written about before, the more you give, the more you get.

#6 Moderate Success is Easier to Get than “Only in Your Wildest Dreams” Success

“Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can’t do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.”

Tim Ferriss

Many of us are taught from an early age to have practical goals. We shouldn’t try to be a rock star, supermodel, or astronaut because the chances of success are so slim.

But it’s time to challenge those self-imposed restraints. As Ben Nemtin, from “The Buried Life”, pointed out: “The level of competition is highest for realistic goals because most people don’t set high enough goals for themselves.”

Don’t be afraid to go for your wildest dream. It may take more effort, but you’ll also be more energized.

#7 You Need to Wait Until the Time is Right

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”

Samuel Johnson

There’s no such thing as the “perfect time” to act. There will always be a problem. But successful people don’t let that deter them.

#8 Success has to be Traditional

“The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you’re playing by somebody else’s rules, while quietly playing by your own.”

Michael Konda

Don’t get caught up with how other people define success. Traditional success includes a six-figure income, a happy family, and a house with a white picket fence. But your success doesn’t have to include any of these things.

#9 Success is Easy

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”

David Bly

When people become very successful very quickly it almost looks like it just fell into their lap. But it only looks easy to us because we can’t see the whole picture. Success is earned. As the old saying goes, “The only place you’ll find success before work is in the dictionary.”

#10 Success = Money

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.”

Henry Ford

This is a tired point, but it’s true: money is not that important. Personally, I would rather make a modest living doing something that matters than get rich trading stocks on Wall Street.

Steve Jobs was one of the richest people in the world, but he once said “being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

Top 10 Principles of Success

#1 Success Starts Within

Success comes from the way you act. The way you act comes from the way you think and feel. Therefore, to become more successful, you must first change something within yourself.

#2 Success is a Habit

“Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.”

Aristotle

The little things that you do every day build on top of one another. Make a little progress towards your goals every day.

#3 Success is Only Obtainable in the Now

“The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all moments.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

We can’t experience the past or the future. So the only time a person is truly able to experience success is when they’re appreciating success in the present moment. Take time to enjoy the success of the present or you’ll never know the true meaning of the word.

There’s another reason why the present is so important, as Mahatma Gandhi points out: “The future depends on what we do in the present.”

#4 Success is in Motion

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

Steve Jobs

Have a sip of success and it’s easy to get intoxicated. When you get so pleased with your success that all you want to do is reflect on it fondly, you’re guaranteeing that your success will be short-lived.

The only way to have permanent success is to always be moving forward. This anonymous quotation says it better than I can: “A successful man continues to look for work after he has found a job.”

#5 Success Requires Faith

“Leap and the net will appear.”

Zen saying

Pursuing success is challenging and risky, but your chances increase greatly when you simply believe you will succeed.

#6 Success Means Helping Others

“It’s not that successful people are givers; it is that givers are successful people.”

Patti Thor

While it’s enjoyable to help yourself, there’s nothing more satisfying than helping others. Any true definition of success involves giving back as much as you get.

#7 Success is a Choice

Your life is in your hands. So if you don’t like your situation, change it.

Each of us has the resources and the opportunity to create a better life. But we each must make the decision to do this. As an old Swedish proverb says, “God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.”

#8 Perseverance is Required

Colonel Harlan Sanders made 1008 sales call before a restaurant agreed to buy his recipe for fried chicken. If Sanders hadn’t persisted through over 1000 rejections, then KFC (a restaurant franchise with that earns about a half-billion dollars in revenue per year) wouldn’t exist.

Success is a long-term game. Be ready for the long haul.

#9 Visualization is Key

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up some place else.”

Yogi Berra

When teaching my class to shoot basketball, our gym teacher told us to imagine the basketball going through the hoop. Surprisingly, the trick worked: visualizing a successful shot actually helped us achieve it.

It’s not magic. Visualization makes our goals more real and reminds us of the beauty of our dreams.

#10 Success Starts Today

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

No matter what your situation is, you can become a successful person today. You may not be able to reap the rewards yet, but you can start planting the seeds.

Wishlist member is the best and most flexible membership site plugin for WordPress. It’s very powerful, but also easy enough to use that you really don’t need to be a techie to build a great membership site with it. The Wishlist member plugin allows you to build a high quality membership site that also looks sleek and very easy to manage as an admin.

I use this plugin personally, and know a lot of top online marketers who use it. It’s so popular for two primary reasons:

1. It’s really powerful – the features and options kick ass.
2. It’s really easy to use.

If you’re thinking: “But I don’t need a membership site.” Think again. Membership sites help you make money like a pro, big time. The bottom of this post gives some clear reasons.

Here is some of what Wishlist member does, broken down…

Integration:

Wishlist Member seamlessly integrates with…

• Various shopping carts and payment processors, such as PayPal, ClickBank, 1Shoppingcart, and more.
• Affiliate systems such as 1shoppingcart, clickbank, and iDev Affiliate.
• Most common autoresponders, and has a general option to integrate with other autoresponders.
• OptimizePress (actually, this is by far the easiest way to build a membership site: OptimizePress + Wishlist Member … it’s exactly how I have all of my clients do it)
• More! It has an API for flexibility… if you want to get all techie.

Total Content Control:

Build An Elegant Welcome Area:

You can have an elegant welcome area with some content, even for free members. That way, you can sell them more stuff within the members area. This can be a great way to convert your leads into customers by giving them “access.”

Import/Export:

Easy to use and manage:

What does Wishlist Member cost?

There have been some sweet sites built with Wishlist Member

While you certainly don’t have to be a design pro to build a good membership site, you can definitely see the possibilities by checking out some of the membership sites others built:

How does Wishlist Member stand up against other membership plugins?

Here are two that are often talked about:

S2 Member.

There are others, such as WP eMember and aMember. WP eMember is by the same people as WP eShop, and I know from experience that eShop is a poor option in comparison to its competitors. WP eMember lacks important integration tools, you don’t want to get stuck with it long term.

aMember used to be popular, but now Wishlist wins out in my book, especially in terms of user friendliness.

The Bottom Line

Wishlist is the best membership plugin for WordPress sites. While there are other good options, such as DAP, Wishlist makes it easy. And I’m a huge fan of making WordPress easy so that you can focus your time on content that will provide value for your members and readers and ultimately make you money… rather than playing around with complicated plugins.

If you’re looking to build a membership site, get Wishlist member.

Make More Money with Membership

If you’re not thinking about building a membership site, think again…

A membership site is one of the best ways to distribute your premium information (info products), create a continuity program, and distribute your premium tools and plugins. It makes it easier for you to keep selling to the same customer base over and over, while making it much easier for them to access the stuff they paid for. It also dramatically ups the security of your content, so you don’t have to stress about people sharing your hard work for free.

Because you can use Wishlist to upsell stuff directly through your membership site, you can create more passive income for yourself by just making different membership levels. You can even put all of your recommendations within your site. Since everyone in there is a buyer, they’re now more likely to actually purchase stuff through your affiliate links, without you even having to mail them!

Virtually every online marketer with any products or premium content uses a membership site. Start yours today.

Whether you’re an e-commerce seller, a software vendor, an info-product peddler or anything in between, you need an email list.

Beyond that, you need to send really stellar emails if you expect people to buy. While you may have become a better blogger, and have been brushing up on your landing page resources, these are further up the marketing funnel.

Email digs a little deeper, because it is your chance to get personal.

Email is the gateway to sales.

Master the email, and the sales process becomes so much easier.

Do it wrong, and risk annoying your prospects and customers and possibly turn them off from buying from you altogether.

In the vein of our new Friday tradition, here are 29 resources on email marketing.

These deal with high-level subjects like etiquette, to the nitty gritty details like list segmentation (which is so important there are 8 articles on it).

You’ll also learn how to earn more clicks, write stronger subject lines, and determine the frequency at which you should click “send” to your list. As always, I’d like to invite you to bookmark this page for easy reference.

5 Cardinal Rules Of Email Etiquette

When you send an email to your list, remember: it’s going to one person.

Even if your list contains 10,000 people, the person receiving it does not care about the 9,999 others. Keeping that in mind, here are the 5 cardinal rules of email marketing.

Develop a Better Email Marketing Strategy

Anyone can start a newsletter or create an auto-responder series, but it takes a real strategy. A real strategy doesn’t just define outcomes, it also accounts for the steps taken to get there.

This article from emailmonday.com gives you 5 things to help get your thinking straight when it comes to strategically planning  your email marketing. It’s a simple and perfect place to start.

5 Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2012

Yes, “social media” might get all of the buzz.

But let me ask you this… Which is busier? Twitter, or your Inbox?

Surveys say more than 93% of online consumers are “subscribers.”

Social Media doesn’t have nearly the same adoption rate. If you want to stand out, you need to do it in the inbox. Here’s 5 guidelines to follow in 2012.

How SEO, Social Media, And Email Marketing Work Together

This is one from our very own Nick Tart on his blog 14clicks.com.

His post does an excellent job at getting you to think critically about the calls to action on your content.

He does a very good job at explaining the different traffic cycles of Search, Social Media, and how you can get email to play into it.

I certainly learned a few new things from this article, and will be considering many of these concepts as I redesign my website.

Email Plus Facebook Marketing: Fresh ideas from FreshPair

This interview between Daniel Burstein of Marketing Sherpa and Lindsay Masse of Freshpair.com is nothing short of insightful.

In this interview, they discuss how Freshpair.com uses their Facebook presence to learn more about their customers and improve their email campaigns.

What I found particularly interesting is their hint at how followers who are engaged on Facebook are also much much more likely to read their emails and take advantage of the offers. Click Here to Read the Interview

How to Get More Subscribers For Your Email List

Ok, so now that we’ve talked about best practices, and how email ties into your over all strategy…

Let’s get some people on your list.

This article courtesy of Copyblogger is a primer to getting inside your prospective subscribers’ heads in order to think around what may be preventing them from handing over their email address.

Things like social proof, clear calls to action, and overcoming objections are covered.

To get into their in-box, you first have to get into their head

21 Awesome Ideas to Grow Your Email List

This is what it says it is. Every single one of these ideas are fantastic. Read them here.