I remember the first time I encountered an "easy button" at Staples. Push the big red button with the word "easy" printed on it and the family "That was easy" voice was played. I loved it and had to have one. A couple years ago I came up with an idea for another button which I thought would have great appeal to business people around the world. A green button with a dollar sign on... Continue Reading

Over the past couple years, information marketers have come under greater scrutiny by the United States Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has taken several companies and individuals to task for deceptive Internet marketing practices. As the largest seller of information products online, Clickbank.com is now issuing clearer guidelines for the types of products and/or marketing practices that will be more closely scrutinized going forward. In other words, they are going to be working harder to... Continue Reading

Failure. The word is laced with negative connotations. That's why I think failure gets a bum rap. Failing at something is not necessarily a bad thing. It just means you are trying. And it means you have found a way to not succeed. Thomas Edison went through thousands of experiments before his first lightbulb was illuminated. Ben Franklin is quoted as stating, "I didn't fail the test, I just found one hundred ways to do... Continue Reading

I came into Internet marketing from two businesses that couldn't have been more different to the work that I do today. Continue Reading

Death. Now there's a way to start a blog entry! It's been said by Steven Covey that we should "begin with the end in mind." Well, it doesn't get any more "end" than death, does it? At least as far as our lives on earth are concerned. We live in a culture that is death-averse. We are fascinated with concepts of the afterlife, but death itself is a horrible thing that we'd rather not look... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Andrew Albritton) To say they're the latest craze in online shopping would be an understatement. Groupon, Living Social, Social Buy etc. have taken the web by storm, revolutionizing how "deal of the day" type websites meet local brick and mortar business. Traditional "Deal of the day" type sites are typically affiliates that have great discounts from advertisers that have a large online presence and may not even have brick and mortar... Continue Reading

It's not always easy to put yourself out there and develop the online presence that is going to be so essential for the success of your business. If exposing yourself and your ideas to the unwashed Internet masses sounds like a nightmare of privacy concerns and defenselessness, you are definitely not alone. But, counter-intuitive as this may sound, in the end it doesn't have to be about you. Instead of hiding behind your fear, start... Continue Reading

It's Monday morning and I am thinking about what I should write about today. As I ponder the things happening in my life, I consider my options. The new Twitter is coming. But I haven't seen it on my account yet, so that will have to wait. I'm a week into Project Fit, but I'm feeling kind of under the weather today. I've been invited to speak in Asia. It's exciting, but I don't think... Continue Reading

The following email was sent to me by one of the creators of The Internet Marketing World Cup. I told them I would consider updating my previous blog entry based on what he shared with me. After further consideration, I thought I would just let IMWC's point-of-view speak for itself. With that said, here is the entire email sent to me. It is thoughtful and I admire the IMWC team for proactively contacting me and... Continue Reading

If you have spent any time at all in the Internet marketing space, you are bound to be invited to become an affiliate for someone's product or service. However, in all likelihood the invitation will come in the form of "Would you like to JV with me?" JV is short for joint venture. And that is NOT what you are being invited to do. It's my hope that a few marketers will read this and... Continue Reading

As online marketers, we put a lot of stock in social networking, and rightfully so. There really is no better way to get the word out about your business, its mission, and your brand and to build valuable relationships that will create opportunities and help your business grow. Or is there? Back in the day, before Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and even Friendster, all they could do was network the old-fashioned way: face-to-face and in person... Continue Reading

I received an email solicitation today to take part in an alleged competition that is due to take place starting in October. It's called (brace yourself...) "The Internet Marketing World Cup" (goooooooooalllll!) It is likely you will be hearing more about this in the future so I thought it would be interesting to dissect it and share some thoughts. Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Loral Langemeier) Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with such a great business idea that you sprang out of bed and made a mad dash for a pen and paper to write everything down as fast as you could? Continue Reading

When Google launched Wave back in 2009, it was met with a mixture of head-scratching and hand-raising. Because it was invitation-only, there was huge demand from people who wanted to try it out. (Invitations were even said to have sold on eBay for $70 each). But people -- both those who had tried it out and those who wanted to -- wondered what it was for. Continue Reading