Facebook can be very frustrating. Early on, I accepted every friend request that came my way. I was being social, right? Shortly after hitting my 5000 friend limit, my account was suspended. After creating a bit of a hullaballoo (don't get to use that word very often), my account was re-activated. Then came pages. Now I had a place to send people who wanted to follow me. The numbers quickly grew. But my Facebook stream... Continue Reading

Have you been putting off starting your online business because you can't decide what kind of business to start? If deciding on which direction to take with your online business feels like trying to map the desert, you need to list out some of the more obvious possibilities and then pick one. It's time to get moving. One of the first steps to getting going is to take some time to outline a rough business... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D.) Recently, I had a very candid conversation with an entrepreneur whom I've known for a long time but who has never shown much interest in elevating service at his business. During that conversation he said something like, "Joseph I know you believe service is an important value proposition and intuitively it makes sense, BUT I can't monetize the value of service." Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D.) Recently, I had a very candid conversation with an entrepreneur whom I've known for a long time but who has never shown much interest in elevating service at his business. During that conversation he said something like, "Joseph I know you believe service is an important value proposition and intuitively it makes sense, BUT I can't monetize the value of service." Continue Reading

In my latest Fiverr.com project, I hired a provider to draw my dog, Socrates, as a cartoon. I sent my five dollars and uploaded a photo of Soc to the site. Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Joseph A Michelli Ph.D.) Last week we talked about the importance of having a customer-centric business approach. But how exactly do you go about becoming a business like The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company that adds value though service excellence and desired experience? I take my clients through a very systematic process with delivery of that process adapted to the needs of their business. Typically this journey begins with an honest assessment of... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Jared Newgent) We have all heard of them, and we all know how important it is to keep our computers free from viruses. But what exactly is a computer virus and how does it work? Continue Reading

Whenever I teach people about making money with AdSense, I make sure to let them know how easy it is to get started. Once they understand that their original content can translate to a revenue stream, they usually want to know what to do. For someone who has never blogged before, I recommend they set up a Blogger account. Not only is it easy to use, but it is also free. And since Google owns... Continue Reading

WARNING: This series of posts may be hazardous to your preconceived notions of how to make money online. Reading it may save you thousands of dollars in pipe dreams and cause you to focus on the single most important aspect of running an Internet business. If you suffer from A.D.S. (Acute Denial Syndrome) or insist on believing that buying another product or service is the magic bullet that will cure all your financial ills, these... Continue Reading

Last week the FTC dropped a bomb on the marketing world. They released new guidelines for the use of testimonials and endorsements in marketing. I immediately contacted my attorney, Kevin Houchin, to get his take on the latest guidelines. With Kevin's permission, I am republishing the entire text of his interpretation. It is essential that all marketers, online and offline, pay attention to this content. And understand that if you have ANY questions, you should... Continue Reading

With Twitter becoming such a powerful force on the social media scene, there are those who get it and those who don't get it. There's a certain number of the "don't get it" crowd who will invariably take an outright aggressive posture and make a statement like this... "Twitter is a waste of time. Who cares what you had for breakfast?" Many on Twitter will hem and haw about the content of the question, almost... Continue Reading

Invesp Consulting has been taking nominations for their list which includes one-hundred marketers from around the world. Based on the number of votes received, they have ranked from one to one-hundred. I ended up receiving an award and coming in as #62. Thanks to all who voted for me. I didn't even know it was taking place. They even gave me a cute little badge... aw.... Click here to see entire list of winners Continue Reading

I've been wanting to meet Jason Calacanis face-to-face for some time. For those that don't know, Jason is the co-creator of Weblogs, Inc., which was sold to AOL for $25 million. I'm at Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas where Jason Calacanis delivered the keynote address this morning. I really didn't know anything about Jason as a person, so I was looking forward to an insightful talk with fresh ideas. Wow, was I in for a... Continue Reading

Last week, I sat down in my office with several members of my team and we began doing a brain dump of all the great ideas for sites, services and products that we had. We filled my fairly-large whiteboard in no time at all. The fact of the matter is that we have more ideas than we have time or manpower to accomplish! But ideas are not exactly in short supply, are they? There are... Continue Reading