"When you are through changing, you are through." - Bruce Barton Change is inevitable. Apart from death and taxes, change is the only thing in this life that we can count on. This past year has found me in the midst of much change. After a number of years as an author, speaker and entrepreneur, I have spent the last year quietly reassessing my life. Taking some time away from work, I've been tending to... Continue Reading

I don't have to tell you how important video is your to sales process. It's a well-established fact that video is one of the best ways to build relationship, enhance your brand, increase conversions and make more sales. I've been using video for a number of years and it has been a very effective tool to accomplish all of the above. From time to time, we have video talent scheduled to film various spots for... Continue Reading

You've hopefully heard that the point of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook isn't just to amass followers. You could have totally healthy numbers and still not see much of a return in terms of sales or clicks or engaged readers. So if the goal isn't just numbers, what is it? Some of the signposts that you are doing things right: People retweet your tweets. People comment on your blog posts and on other... Continue Reading

Twitter can be a great branding tool. If you are not already using Twitter to get the word out about your business, you probably at least know that you should be. There are lots of benefits to using Twitter, and some things that you should definitely avoid. And in the end, everyone needs to decide for themselves what kind of role Twitter will play in their lives and businesses. It's perfectly fine for your Twitter... Continue Reading

There are some things that I just can't do. Continue Reading

It's not entirely new and it's not entirely unique. Third-party providers like TwitterAnalyzer and Klout had already been providing some statistical feedback for Twitter for some time. CrowdBooster, a new service, promises to do even more. But the launch of Twitter's own Analytics service is going to change everything. Continue Reading

One of the perennial questions in online marketing is how to get more traffic to your site. Whether you are just starting out, having just launched your site and are now wondering who's going to read it, or have been in the business for awhile and would like to improve your numbers, there is always something you can do to get more readers and site visitors. Here is a laundry list of our favorites. Don't... Continue Reading

There is a lot that goes into running your online business. SEO, shopping carts, web design, social media promotions, information products, building an email list, and on and on. It can be tempting to get wrapped up in all of these things, and there is no denying that they are all very important to your business. But oftentimes people get so focused on and distracted by these things that they lose sight of what is... Continue Reading

If you look around at successful online businesses, you will see many things that they all have in common. Maybe they have a good design, have a well-written blog, convincing sales pages, or some combination of these and other characteristics. But many successful sites an businesses share another characteristic: they know and take advantage of the power of a unique business idea. Because let's face it, you can have all the other pieces in place... Continue Reading

Consumerism has a way of telling us what we want without really knowing who we are. It's safe to assume that most of us want to be healthy, have significant relationships and not carry any debt. But that doesn't mean we all want to have a six-pack, bed as many people as we can or be incredibly wealthy. You would think that those are the ultimate goals for life, according to Madison Avenue. It's just... Continue Reading

Starting your own online business is a lot like a long journey. You will need perseverance, stamina, and some faith, and you will reach your goals. But lots of people burn up all of their energy right out of the starting gate. Have you ever gotten really excited about a business idea or an online mentor, thrown a lot of money at it, and then never done anything or really learned anything from it? There... Continue Reading

No firm has done more to enable the monetization of the Internet than Google. Its AdSense system has gone through a lot of changes since it launched in 2003, but it's still the backbone of my online business, the channel around which much of my content is built. Continue Reading

If your online business includes a blog (and it should), and especially if that blog is envisioned as one of the main ways you will make money and pull in readers / customers, then we need to talk about keeping things fresh. Coming up with content on a regular basis is probably going to be challenging if you've never done it before, and it's probably going to be tempting to just fill up the space... 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