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So they’ve finally gone all in: Facebook has launched Places, they’re internal location-based-service (LBS) marketplace, and when the third largest (yet poorest) country in the world does something new, the world watches.

For the moment, Facebook Places is only in the US, and still doesn’t have a writing API, but that will all change quickly. As that changes, it will have some serious implications for the Internet. Here are 3 ways in which Facebook Places is going to change the digital landscape:

1. The web just got a bit more closed

Earlier this week, Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff of Wired proclaimed that the web is dead. Their reasoning was that as we use apps more and more to consume content and interact with others, the internet becomes “less about the searching and more about the getting“.

Well, with Facebook Places, your run-of-the-mill Facebook app will start doing what you once needed a Foursquare, Gowalla, and Yelp app to do. This means Facebook has secured much more of a stake in how the net’s evolving.

More importantly, though, it means Facebook users have that much less of a reason to go beyond the walls of Facebook. And that is precisely the behavior Google should be worried about.

2. LBS is going mainstream

The advent of Facebook Places may be the big push we need to take LBS mainstream. And the way LBS will reach that level of adoption is through its Facebook smartphone apps.

Social media apps and consumer engagement with them is the reason that smartphones will push LBS mainstream. Those little apps are gold and consumers are infatuated with them. Such apps will let the marketing industry take LBS advertising beyond mere SMS spam.

Now, sites such as Foursquare and Gowalla already offer apps and user-experiences that make LBS advertising possible, but they don’t quite yet have the user-base. As Michael Lazerow of AdAge points out:

Foursquare and Gowalla combined have just a few million users. Facebook has north of half a billion. When Facebook gets into a market, they bring everyone. Literally, everyone.

So while Foursquare and Gowalla have had potential LBS technology all along, they lacked the audience. Facebook, on the other hand, has had both the audience and the advertiser base all along. Now that they’re rolling out the technology, LBS advertising (via Facebook apps, of course) shouldn’t be too far behind.

3. Foursquare & Gowalla condemned to mediocrity

In a nutshell, Facebook Places won’t kill off these services completely. But it’ll hinder their growth potential and dash any acquisition hopes they might have had (that is, at least any hopes of Facebook acquiring them).

On one hand, many users will simply choose not to integrate their current LBS network (e.g. Foursquare) with their Facebook network. We’ve already seen this in how many users use Twitter very differently than they do their Facebook status updates. So these pre-existing LBS networks will probably retain an entrenched user base.

On the other hand, these incumbent LBS networks will probably have trouble growing their existing user base. Given Facebook’s scale and reach, for example, many users will discover Facebook Places before they discover Foursquare or Gowalla. These users, then, will probably be less likely to see the value in joining a separate LBS-only network.

You see, just like Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla are more of individual features than stand alone social networks. This much is evident in how Facebook Places is usurping their entirely functionality as a mere feature.

So these networks will continue to be relevant, but only marginally so and for what will be a stagnant if loyal user base.

Taming the wild wild web

The Internet is in its 20s. It’s starting to grow up and past the awkward, experimental years of its teens. It’s time for the Internet to get down to business.  Companies can no longer launch just to say they did so, but they will launch to have an answer to their investors’ questions of, “How will you make money?”.  Part of that maturity will lead to an increased competition between close competitors and there will be attrition.

So while Google and Apple try to fence us in at the OS level, Facebook seems to be moving to middle-man them (and might be working on their own OS). After all, if users only use your OS to run someone else’s apps, who really controls those users? Facebook clearly intends to address that weakness.

Read more here:
3 Ways Facebook Local Will Change the Internet

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So they’ve finally gone all in: Facebook has launched Places, their internal location-based-service (LBS) marketplace, and when the third largest (yet poorest) country in the world does something new, the world watches.

For the moment, Facebook Places is only in the US, and still doesn’t have a writing API, but that will all change quickly. As that changes, it will have some serious implications for the Internet. Here are 3 ways in which Facebook Places is going to change the digital landscape:

1. The web just got a bit more closed

Earlier this week, Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff of Wired proclaimed that the web is dead. Their reasoning was that as we use apps more and more to consume content and interact with others, the internet becomes “less about the searching and more about the getting“.

Well, with Facebook Places, your run-of-the-mill Facebook app will start doing what you once needed a Foursquare, Gowalla, and Yelp app to do. This means Facebook has secured much more of a stake in how the net’s evolving.

More importantly, though, it means Facebook users have that much less of a reason to go beyond the walls of Facebook. And that is precisely the behavior Google should be worried about.

2. LBS is going mainstream

The advent of Facebook Places may be the big push we need to take LBS mainstream. And the way LBS will reach that level of adoption is through its Facebook smartphone apps.

Social media apps and consumer engagement with them is the reason that smartphones will push LBS mainstream. Those little apps are gold and consumers are infatuated with them. Such apps will let the marketing industry take LBS advertising beyond mere SMS spam.

Now, sites such as Foursquare and Gowalla already offer apps and user-experiences that make LBS advertising possible, but they don’t quite yet have the user-base. As Michael Lazerow of AdAge points out:

Foursquare and Gowalla combined have just a few million users. Facebook has north of half a billion. When Facebook gets into a market, they bring everyone. Literally, everyone.

So while Foursquare and Gowalla have had potential LBS technology all along, they lacked the audience. Facebook, on the other hand, has had both the audience and the advertiser base all along. Now that they’re rolling out the technology, LBS advertising (via Facebook apps, of course) shouldn’t be too far behind.

3. Foursquare & Gowalla condemned to mediocrity

In a nutshell, Facebook Places won’t kill off these services completely. But it’ll hinder their growth potential and dash any acquisition hopes they might have had (that is, at least any hopes of Facebook acquiring them).

On one hand, many users will simply choose not to integrate their current LBS network (e.g. Foursquare) with their Facebook network. We’ve already seen this in how many users use Twitter very differently than they do their Facebook status updates. So these pre-existing LBS networks will probably retain an entrenched user base.

On the other hand, these incumbent LBS networks will probably have trouble growing their existing user base. Given Facebook’s scale and reach, for example, many users will discover Facebook Places before they discover Foursquare or Gowalla. These users, then, will probably be less likely to see the value in joining a separate LBS-only network.

You see, just like Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla are more of individual features than stand alone social networks. This much is evident in how Facebook Places is usurping their entirely functionality as a mere feature.

So these networks will continue to be relevant, but only marginally so and for what will be a stagnant if loyal user base.

Taming the wild wild web

The Internet is in its 20s. It’s starting to grow up and past the awkward, experimental years of its teens. It’s time for the Internet to get down to business.  Companies can no longer launch just to say they did so, but they will launch to have an answer to their investors’ questions of, “How will you make money?”.  Part of that maturity will lead to an increased competition between close competitors and there will be attrition.

So while Google and Apple try to fence us in at the OS level, Facebook seems to be moving to middle-man them (and might be working on their own OS). After all, if users only use your OS to run someone else’s apps, who really controls those users? Facebook clearly intends to address that weakness.

Read the original:
3 Ways Facebook Places Will Change the Internet

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One of the most important aspects of being an affiliate is the ability to deliver high-quality content. While Twitter is seen as a great communication tool by some and a time-waster by others, one thing is clear: using Twitter can teach you to become a better writer. Here are four fun ways that you can learn from Twitter and apply the lessons to your online copy.

Twitter can improve your editing skills

I often look back with fondness on the first time I was published in a major newspaper. A Western Canadian paper had requested a two-part series that would run over the weekend. I had a maximum of 800 words for each part of the series, but found myself unable to get my message across in less than 1,200 words. So, I enlisted the help of a friend who is a playwright, and he sat down with me and, sentence by sentence, word by word, we edited each of those pieces down by 400 words. It was an amazing process, and my friend’s advice sticks with me to this day, like the voice of Obi-Wan in Luke Skywalker’s head, telling me to use the Force and discard all unnecessary words.

Twitter’s maximum of 140 characters forces us to trim our copy, and to find a way to express our point in very few words. This is a great exercise in editing, especially when adding a link to a tweet, or wanting to leave enough space for people to re-tweet your message to their followers.

Analyze your copy, look at each sentence and ask yourself what you can dispense with while still relaying your core message.

It encourages creativity

My colleague Janice and I often have heated discussions about grammar. For example, while Janice is against the serial comma, I am for it. Even the web programmers here accuse us of being geeks. Neither of us has a problem with that. We love the written word and we don’t mind arguing for or against a rule in the interest of relaying messages in the clearest way possible.

On a forum like Twitter, however, the rules of grammar are not always followed. And, in an effort to send messages within a limited character count, words like “check” become “chk.” Obviously this is nothing new and has been happening for as long as the Internet has existed.

While this is shocking and horrifying to some, and there are those who would argue that it is ruining an entire generation’s ability to use proper grammar and punctuation, I’m of a mind that the best writing delivers its message regardless of where the comma did, or didn’t go. The message must fit the medium.

Stick to the general rules of grammar, but be creative in conveying your message, especially in headlines, or short copy that requires a big impact. One word of warning, however: It is not until you fully understand the rules of grammar that you can begin to effectively break them to your advantage. In the same way that Dali understood the rudimentary concepts of form and illustration before he could start to manipulate them, make sure that you are a competent writer before you start to color too far outside of the lines.

Your audience is everything

Jimi Hendrix is one of the most famous musicians ever, and is considered to be a major influence on modern music. As popular as he was in the late 60s with a certain audience, this wasn’t true everywhere. In one of the greatest musical mismatches in history, Jimi Hendrix opened up for the Monkees for a few shows in 1967. The now legendary Hendrix was booed off the stage and his groundbreaking guitar work was all but drowned out by thousands of teeny boppers screaming for Davy Jones, the mop-topped, fresh-faced singer of the Monkees.

What’s the point of this incredible story? With social media venues like Twitter, it is imperative that you reach your target audience. Reaching out to the wrong group of people will see your message falling on deaf ears. This is as true for other writing as it is for Twitter. Finding ways to access your audience in a venue like Twitter will help you to shape your copy for the people you are trying to reach. Writing for a group of top-level executives will take on a different form than copy for gardeners seeking the best fertilizer. It doesn’t matter how good your copy is, if you’re not reaching the right people, you run the risk of being booed off the proverbial stage.

Twitter teaches the importance of headlines

Writers will often be shown an upside-down pyramid when learning how to create press releases. This pyramid is intended to represent how the most important copy is meant to be at the top of the page, with less-important details to follow. This evolved from military communications that would often get cut off in mid-transmission, hence the need for the most important details at the very beginning.

Twitter is most often used as a means of encouraging someone to click on a link, and is not unlike a headline. The most important details of any writing must be contained in the headline. It’s what tells the reader what value they are going to get out of reading a story.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say that an earthquake has struck Capital City, and all the lights have gone out due to a power failure. As a result of this, residents are unable to watch television. If the headline were to read, “Area Residents Unable to Watch 6 o’clock News,” it has not only failed to relay the most important message of the story, but does not seem like a story worth reading. Who cares if some people can’t watch TV? However, a headline that read, “Earthquake Hits Capital City, Disrupts Power to Thousands,” not only delivers the most important message, but it also generates interest in the story. It entices readers to carry on, which is your ultimate goal.

If you can’t get your readers past your headline, you might as well not write the story. Make sure your headlines, like your Tweets, give readers a good reason to continue on.

What has Twitter taught you? Let us know in the comments section below.

More:
Lessons from Twitter on How to Become a Better Writer

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Love her or hate her, there is no doubt that Lady Gaga is one of the most successfully marketed celebrities of the last decade. And it just keeps getting better. She now has 10 million fans on her Facebook page, making her the living celebrity with the most fans (Michael Jackson still beats her by a cool—or is it a bad?—4.9 million fans). She was also the first artist to earn more than one billion views on YouTube. That’s right: One Billion.

So, how did she do it? Is Lady Gaga truly the most amazing thing since Al Gore invented the Internet? Is there that big of a market for singers who dress up in Kermit the Frog dresses? Or, is it that Lady Gaga has one of the most competent marketing machines behind her since Madonna carefully navigated a boat down a Venice canal using nothing but sheer will and some strategically placed bangles in the Like a Virgin video?

There is a lot more than one aspect behind the meteoric rise to fame of this American songstress, and affiliate marketers could take a lesson from her and her team of PR people. So, here are our five affiliate marketing lessons from Lady Gaga.

She’s unique
There is no doubt that Lady Gaga is one of a kind. While many might say she’s derivative, she seems to have carved out a niche for herself. I, for one, have never seen anyone else in a dress made of floppy Kermit the Frog dolls.

Affiliates need to find a way to offer something unique to people, something that they’re not going to get anywhere else. Give people a little something out of the ordinary and they won’t be able to look away.

She promotes constantly!
Images of Lady Gaga on the Internet, TV, magazines and newspapers have become as ubiquitous as shorts in summer. She is absolutely everywhere. Not every affiliate has the kind of team (or product) that can make that kind of invasion into popular culture, but the point is that it is necessary to get out there and promote whenever and wherever you can.

Bloggers do well by guest blogging on other sites, or by sharing links in strategic places. PPC ads are a great way for affiliates to get themselves out there, and well strategized and relevant comments on blogs can also help. And don’t ever forget our old friend, the email. Getting people to sign up for a newsletter that can be sent to them regularly so that you can keep reminding them of what you have to offer is a great way to keep yourself in the proverbial limelight.

Her songs are easy to remember
Another important aspect of Lady Gaga’s success is the people who write her songs. I’m quite sure that if I just said, “P-p-p-poker face,” there are at least a few people who would have that song stuck in their heads for a while.

So, how does an affiliate get someone to remember them? I’m not suggesting you write a song, but finding a way for people to remember who you are and what you do is a big part of marketing. Consider the following: Just do it; let your fingers do the walking; it takes a licking and keeps on ticking; the quicker picker-upper. I’ll bet you can associate each of those slogans with the company they represent.

A catchy name for your blog, a great tag-line, a quirky product line—all of these things will get your site’s song stuck in the heads of your visitors. Now it’s up to you to write the music.

Famous friends
Lady Gaga has done a good job of being seen in public with other famous people, and has even collaborated with many. How’d you like Beyonce to endorse your site? You might not be so keen, but that would surely bring you at least a few visitors. It also helps that she became BFFs with the Queen of All Media, gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who btw calls her his ‘wifey’.

Starting relationships with some of the bigger players in the affiliate marketing business is a great way to get your site known. Once again, guest blogging is a big one, and if you can get a mention on a popular site, that’s a big deal. You don’t have to get ambushed by paparazzi to be well known, but it certainly does help to have a few well-connected friends.

Be yourself
You won’t find another Lady Gaga, and nobody should be able to find another affiliate site that’s exactly like yours. Feel free to draw upon the influences of your favorite affiliate marketers, but remember that unless you are true to yourself, you may not enjoy what you’re doing enough to actually want to keep doing it. Be yourself and let your personality shine through. Besides, that is exactly the kind of honesty that people trust, and people’s trust is the first step towards conversions for affiliates.

Excerpt from:
Affiliate Marketing Lessons from Lady Gaga

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We here at Share Results have often referred back to numerous amazing women with highly marketable skills. Whether they’re Motivated Mommies, or high-ranking CEO’s, we’re always impressed by the endless creativity and resourcefulness exhibited by working women. And right now, we think it’s as good a time as any for women to become affiliates.

I’m not even going to spew the usual jargon about the flexibility of affiliate marketing and how it allows women to work around their families’/ childrens’/ career / sick pet’s needs. No, what I think makes women great affiliates is their ability to relate to one another.

Chances are, if you’re a woman you’re a naturally born maven on the subject of one topic or another. Just think about the last time you offered your fellow girlfriend a tip about something. I’m willing to bet that it happened fairly recently, maybe even the last time you spoke to her. The thing is women listen to other women –and with the abundance of social media, it’s growing across all mediums and boundaries. That’s because the social media world is really just an extension of your real life circle of girlfriends.

And although you may have never met that female beauty blogger from Munich, chances are if you’ve been following her for some time, when she raves about a new beauty find you’ll probably take note. Why? Well, you’ve already created a “relationship” with her by visiting her site on a weekly basis. By sharing her life and style with you, you feel like an old friend –even though the two of you may have never had personal exchanges. And if you’ve been a consistent reader of the blog, chances are you like her style, and may consider her an authority on the subject. So when Muriel from Munich writes about a fabulous makeup product that is rocking her world, you’ll probably take her tip with as much clout as advice from your best friend.

And while studies like this one indicate consumers’ dwindelling trust in the claims made by advertisers,  bloggers are slowly becoming an increasingly trusted voice for product reviews, because they are often unpaid for their opinions. The same article in eMarketer shows us how more and more Internet users are doing their own research about products, rather than relying solely on expert advice or relying on brand claims. So after reading about Muriel’s claim about her fab new find, before taking the plunge yourself, you may find yourself going to Youtube for a product demo and reading the video reviews underneath, checking out what experts are saying on industry sites, and then you may casually mention something to one of your girlfriends, whom hasn’t tried the fab new find herself but also heard that that it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

A word of warning however –while most bloggers are upfront with their audience about which product reviews are sponsored, others have been found to be less than transparent –and the audience backlash isn’t pretty. Because like your girlfriend, once you find yourself to be deceived by a fellow female, it takes a while for you to build up trust with her again –online or offline.

In the next piece, we’ll chat about how to pick an affiliate program, as well as offer some suggestions on female friendly products to promote.

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You may have noticed that some of our blogs in previous weeks have been buzzing about the forthcoming Affiliate Summit East 2010 NYC industry conference. Often times, we hear from affiliates who are adamant about networking at these types of events, and other times, were astonished that some affiliates are apathetic and don’t bother attending at all.

There are great benefits to networking at an affiliate marketing industry conference. Not only do you get to finally put a face to the names of people with whom you’ve only communicated via email and phone, but you also have the opportunity to obtain one-on-one time with experts to coach you, as well as acquire a wealth of knowledge about how to enhance your campaigns and promotional methods. All of this contributes to your end goal of earning more commissions so you can make more money to hopefully replace your income from your full-time day job!

I’ve decided to put together a three-part guide to attending affiliate marketing conferences and how to get the most out of these events. In many cases, affiliates are scared of the idea of attending a conference. After being behind a computer for many months it does make sense that going to an event with thousands of people can be intimidating. That being said, we hope this guide will be useful in teaching you how to prepare for and use these events to your advantage if you do decide to attend. You will be surprised at how in-person meetings with contacts you have only met online can enhance your chance of getting that coupon deal you wanted, or improving your relationships, be it with an affiliate manager, merchant, a super affiliate, etc.

Now to get started. Before attending any conference you need to determine which ones you prefer to attend and why. Affiliate Summit East and West are standard industry events, but what if you’re an affiliate that wants to or already specializes in lead generation? Have you ever heard of Leadscon? You might benefit from attending a conference like this where you can meet merchants and networks that cater to lead-centric affiliates just like you. There are also conferences held in a variety of locations around the US, and sometimes locations are altered throughout the year. Affiliate Convention is held in California, while Internet Retailer: Conference & Exhibition has a forthcoming event in Illinois. If you’re knowledgeable about affiliate marketing, you will also know that there are non-US locations around the world that are key locations for industry events (i.e. in Europe. Whatever you decide, look at how much time and money you can afford to spend. Perhaps you’re better off attending a conference closer to where you live and more aligned with your style of promoting. Better yet, why not opt in to contests and other opportunities for free passes? Sometimes different industry networks and forum operators offer free passes at different levels, which helps to greatly reduce your expenses.

On a final note, get yourself some business cards. Some affiliates actually show up to a conference and don’t have any record of their own business contact information. You should always have some on hand. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s extremely frustrating meeting a great person at an event, only to discover that they don’t have any cards made up. If you learn nothing else from part one of this blog post, make sure to learn this one lesson: ALWAYS bring business cards and make sure you hand them out liberally to people you meet at conferences. How else will we reach you?

Stay tuned for more from this three-part guide. Next time we’ll give you tips on how to make contacts, work the floor of a conference, and what to take away from these events.

Original post:
Affiliate Guide to Standing out at a Conference: Part 1

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Now that warmer months are upon us, it’s no wonder that we’d rather be playing outside and soaking up the sun rather than stuck at our desks on the computer all day. Especially when there are so many memorable events coming up: graduations, weddings and Father’s Day all beg for a stroll outside. So when we read this great article from Internet Retailer about how an increasing amount of shoppers will be turning to the web in order to buy graduation presents this summer, we thought affiliates would need to hear about it in order to get that extra little motivation to work on their campaigns this summer (I promise, you’ll be at the pool only a few minutes late).

With summer vacations, national holidays and warm weathers in abundance this time of year, it’s little wonder that the malls become slightly deserted. And while online shopping in the summer isn’t always the most convenient method (c’mon, how many ice-cream trucks do you know that carry wi-fi?), it’s becoming the more popular method for gift purchases.

From the same article, there are quite a few encouraging statistics regarding online shoppers and their gift giving habits:

• 59% of gift givers plan to buy at least half their graduation gifts on the web
• 34% will do over half of their graduation gift shopping online

Among the online consumers who plan to buy graduation gifts:

• 79% will do some online research and compare prices to get the best deal.
• 35% will use online coupons to save a few extra bucks.
• 32% scoured the internet for deals, and will only buy articles that are on sale.

With the increasing demand and usage of coupons and promotions, we think it’s never been a better time to become an affiliate than now.

Ask yourself, which of your programs do you anticipate to peak this season? If you’re a little unsure of your answer, it may be worthwhile to add a new program to your rotation that can help you boost those sales during those lazy dog days of summer. We’ve already mentioned that Graduation, Weddings and Father’s Day are excellent gift giving opportunities to bank on, so how about some programs that can help to capitalize on those gift-giving and party-throwing opportunities?

• Become an affiliate for CanvasPeople and tell your readers about this unique photo transfer service that turns your special memory into a work of art. With a commission rate of $7/ sale (for you) and a free canvas (for your readers), it’s never been a better time to sign up.
• T-Shirts may not be the first gift you’d come up with for a graduation present, but how much fun would your readers have if they gave matching t-shirts from T-Shirt Monster for their up-coming bachelor or bachelorette parties? Or how about helping them find a Father’s Day present by suggesting a “World’s Greatest Dad” tee (and giving them a 10% off coupon to boot)? Affiliates earn 15% commissions. You can get more info at Share Results.
• Whether your audience is playing the host or guest role this summer, it’s always nice to offer something a little indulgent in order to make them feel special. How about a beautiful tea sample from Language of the Leaf? Affiliates for the program will benefit from the 10% commissions from all referred sales. Sign up, and tell your traffic about the current free shipping with all orders over $50!

Read the rest here:
Trend Alert: Consumers To Buy More Graduation Gifts Online in Summer 2010

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According to a recent poll done by Tesco Mobile of 4,000 UK consumers, the iPhone was voted a better invention than the toilet.

It comes as no surprise that the greatest invention of all time is the wheel. With the airplane, light bulb, the internet and personal computers in the top 5. But the iPhone came out at #8, beating the toilet and combustible engine at number 9 and 10 respectively.

I am shocked by this. I know we all say we couldn’t live a day without our iPhone or other smart phone; but when faced with the choice of living without a toilet or going without a phone, I think we might reconsider.

I think it is also surprising that while every household in the industrialized world has at least one toilet, not everyone has an iPhone.

The fact is the iPhone is a fun, convenient communication tool but the toilet is a sanitary necessity.

There is rationality in the fact that the poll was done by a mobile provider and that the toilet may have been overlooked or taken for granted as an invention. It’s hard to imagine life without the toilet – I would hate to consider the alternative.

What do you think? Is the iPhone a better invention than the toilet?

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iPhone Beats Toilet in List of “Greatest Inventions”

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With Mother’s Day coming up, we wanted to profile a working mother who is a member of the Share Results network. I knew that this would be an enjoyable task, but I hadn’t counted on having the opportunity to have an afternoon chat with such a, well, motivated mommy.
A few days ago I had a long conversation with Tina Vega, the visionary behind Motivated Mommies.com. Her website is currently in the final stages of creation, and will be launched, aptly enough on Mother’s Day (May 9) of this year.

MotivatedMommies.com will be a resource for mothers who are looking for opportunities for employment; specifically those who wish to work from home. In addition, it will feature links to online educational opportunities, such as what one would find at eLearners.com, which is how Tina came to be an affiliate of the Share Results program, as well as a desire to work with Project Working Moms.

Many mom websites consist of boutique shopping or blogs. Motivated Mommies is unique in that it is really providing stay-at-home moms with the resources to earn a living at home. She’s also providing them with the resources to get out of the house and go to work, should they choose to do that as well. For Tina, her site is about empowering moms to make informed choices that will better their lives and those of their families.

Tina has a background in Administration, and is no stranger to the business world. When her first daughter was born, she made the decision to leave her job and stay at home with her. Soon after that, her search for stay-at-home employment began.

Overcoming Fear
Tina thought of the name of her website about four or five years ago, but it took her a while to go through with actually setting it up. “There was a lot of fear in the beginning, because there weren’t a lot of mom’s websites. When I would talk to people about building a mom-based website,” Tina said, “they would say, ‘What do you mean a mom’s website? What is that?’”

However, as the years passed, more and more moms got out there and started websites directly as resources for other moms and to keep in touch, to share the simple joys, hilarious calamities, never-ending frustrations and eventual triumphs with other mothers.
It makes sense, as a recent study shows that women are far more social on the Internet than men. Venues where mothers can provide other mothers with support have become enormously popular, and with good reason.

Now when Tina mentions that she is building a mom-centric website, the questions are about what genre of mom-based website she’s building, as opposed to what it is going to be about as a whole.

Finding the Motivation
“My sister and I were trying to find ways to stay at home with our kids, and it was very frustrating. We took a lot of chances and tried to find businesses that would advertise that you could work at home, and we would spend 50 dollars hoping we would get something in return. Sometimes we would get a booklet or a list of companies, but those companies would be out of business, or they wanted more money. And it was very frustrating, so we kind of gave up on that particular situation.”

Not the type to be easily dissuaded, Tina started looking for part-time jobs that she and her sister could do, where they could watch each other’s kids while the other was working.

“For me, it was all about the motivation,” Tina says. “And that’s when the name of my website dawned on me: Motivated Mommies. If I was in this situation, if my sister was in this situation, then more than likely there were tons of other moms in the same situation.” Tina started noticing more and more websites in which people were talking about this very thing.

Finding Balance
Tina has two girls, who are six and nine years old. For Tina, the biggest challenge is balancing her home life with the challenges of getting her website set up. “I feel like there are days when I’m working and trying to build the website, my house is a mess. If my house is clean, I didn’t get to work on the business,” Tina said.

Between the time that she spends on the phone and emailing, doing research and collecting information, spending as much time as she would like to with her kids is not as easily accomplished as she might like it to be. It’s a temporary conundrum, she predicts, with the goal of putting the finishing touches on her website, and then getting back to a more regular schedule.

“Once it’s done, I’ll be working on the business when the kids are at school, then a full-time mom when they’re at home. I just don’t want to miss out on any of this time, because it just moves so quickly.”

Inspiration
More than anyone in her life, Tina’s biggest inspiration is her mom, whom she lost to cancer when she was 15 years old. “Watching her be a cheerleading coach and coordinator, working full time and still being an awesome mom and wife, all while fighting cancer, helps me find the strength to be a full-time mom and wife, while building a business.”

And clearly, Tina learned a lot from her mom. Tina still finds time to volunteer at her kids’ school twice a week and is involved in their extracurricular activities, even while in the process of building this website.

And this is one of the things that impressed me most about Tina; her drive to balance her home and family life with work. Earning money is a necessary thing for all of us to survive, and earning a lot of money is a wonderful thing. It’s moms like Tina and her own mother that teach us the most valuable lesson of all: That time with family is more precious than all the gold in Fort Knox.

Offering Hope
“The reason I’m building this site is not just to offer resources to moms, but, more importantly, to offer reputable resources. I’m not going to have any resources on the website that require money up front to enquire about the business,” Tina said.

Tina will be working with direct-sales consultants who are not hidden behind a P.O. Box. All direct-sales offers will have links to an actual website, phone number and person to talk to about the opportunities presented. This way, those interested can get all the background information required before deciding whether or not to work with that company. This will be true of all of the resources presented on her site, including links to online education and other job opportunities.

“There are so many websites out there, and they say that they’re run by moms, and they’re actually scams,” Tina said. “I just couldn’t believe that a mom would do that to another mom. To me, that’s where my frustration comes from and that’s where my motivation comes from.”
The message that Tina wants to get across by presenting these resources is that it is possible for moms to stay at home with their kids, and there are ways to have the life that you dream of having. With the research that Tina has done, her site is sure to be a great resource for moms.

Tina’s words of advice for moms who want to work at home? Tina says, quite simply, “Go for it. There are plenty of resources, and plenty of help out there, it’s just a matter of reaching out to other people. It is possible.”

A Bright Future for Affiliate Marketing
With motivated moms like Tina, there is a very bright future for affiliate marketing. With the credibility that someone like Tina brings to the table, businesses that she lists as trusted partners are sure to reap the benefits of being recommended by someone with the experience that Tina has.

More and more women are seeing the Internet as a source of revenue. You’ll not find a more dedicated, committed and hard-working group than mothers. They’re not afraid of rolling up their sleeves and doing the work required to get a task done. More importantly, you’ll not find a more tight-knit community willing to help and support each other.

That’s why websites like Tina’s are so important, and why MotivatedMommies.com is certain to be as successful as many of the other mom-centric websites that are already out there. They demonstrate positive steps forward, not just for moms, but for the online marketing industry as a whole.

Happy Mother’s Day!
From all of us here at Share Results, we want to wish all of the mothers out there a very, very Happy Mother’s Day.
Don’t forget to visit MotivatedMommies.com on Mother’s Day and check out all of the resources that Tina has to offer. Having had a sneak peek, I can tell you that you that, if you are looking for the kinds of resources that Tina has to offer, you’ll be very glad you did.

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Working-from-Home Survival Tips for Affiliates
2. Project Working Mom (and Dads too!) Awards Full-tuition Scholarship to 58 Parents!
3. EDU offers for Bloggers, and SEO, and Email Affiliates

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Motivated Mommies Get Things Done

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In this ‘off the record’, or ‘unattributed’, or whatever you want to call it, Tweet, Nick Bilton gets the nitty-gritty on how Zuckerberg feels about user privacy.  Now, to be fair, I’m sure he’s not totally against some user privacy, but it’s the internet people!  Other than your date-of-birth, emails, social security number, and your address/phone number, nothing you put on the internet really needs to be private.

Less private content means better archival options (I can link directly to what you said), transparency among identities, and less trollery.  Remember, anonymous comments are the bane of the internet, and in no way contribute to a discussion.  Making real people, with real identities, a possibility means we can really cut down on asshats and spam, and that’s what all this Identity 2.0 stuff is trying to do.

My two cents… Don’t expect anything on the net to be private. If you want to keep your opinions to yourself, don’t post them to Twitter or Facebook. If you feel the need to only share them with a handful of people, just group text them or email them. Otherwise, I see no problem w/Facebook, or any company, pushing the limits of so-called privacy on the net a bit. Remember, Blippy couldn’t even keep your Credit Cards safe (Techmeme), so you should assume that if your content is out there, it may one day see the light.

Social Bookmarking

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Miracle Traffic Bot is a one click SEO and traffic automation software created by Internet Marketer Paul Ponna and his team.

The software submits your videos, articles and websites to dozens of article directories, social bookmarketing sites, and video submission sites.

With the unique combination of simplicity of use and speed of submission, the software makes
getting top rankings on search engines a breeze.

In addition, Miracle Traffic Bot is completely white-hat. This allows the software to perform very fast
in the background and get you long-term results that last.

Plus, the software suite also comes with complete step by step video training on not only how to use the software but also trains you on how to get traffic and make money using the software.

The benefits of the software are three fold:

1) The software gets you top 30 or more rankings on top search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and others search engines.

2) The software also gets your website, blog or affiliate page hundreds of quality backlinks that not only increases your Google PageRank but also catapults your website to rank high for most keywords of your choice.

3) Miracle Traffic Bot also allows you to spread your message because the platforms and sites that the software integrates with syndicate their content to several hundreds of other websites.

This ripple effect ensures that one simple article, video or URL for bookmarking of your sites will
turn into hundreds of one-way backlinks and thousands of visitors to your website, blog or affiliate page.

Hence, you do not even need your own website or product to get the most out of the software as once you get the traffic, everything else becomes easy.

Miracle Traffic Bot is a powerful software suite and what’s better is that it is the only software of its kind that sells for a low one-time fee which makes it a must for every online marketer to have it in their marketing efforts.

Watch this video for some shocking details:
http://www.agenzy.com/MiracleTrafficBotBonus

Search Engine Keywords:

• how to sell miracle traffic bot
• make money sell your traffic
• make money selling internet traffic
• selling internet traffic

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Will Traffic Voodoo Really Bring Lots Of Visitors To Your Website Or Just Lots Of Money To Jeff Johnson’s Wallet?
Traffic Voodoo is a new release from Jeff Johnson, the Traffic Guru, which went live on March 29th.

The Traffic Voodoo course has been designed for the serious online marketers who want to build a good online business. Although not essential it would certainly help if you have some knowledge as well as a few required technical skills such as:

1. Domain registration
2. Setting up a Wordpress site
3. Installing Wordpress plugings
4. Using Wordpress

Traffic Voodoo runs over an 8 week period, below you can see how Jeff has planned to take his students through each of the modules in the course:
Week 1 & 2: The Traffic Getting Quick Start
Getting traffic is what Jeff does best and in this module he shares the very same techniques that he uses every day. He shows you the best kind of websites to build, how and where to use opt in pages and squeeze pages and most importantly of all how to get lots of targeted traffic.

The majority of this module is pretty basic as you would expect for the first module, but this stuff is seriously important. It is what 99% of all online marketers do so it is important stuff. There are also a few additional bits that are unique to Jeff and I certainly found them very interesting.

Week 3: Converting Traffic
Once you have traffic pouring on to your site you need to be sure that your site can convert the traffic in to sales. In this module Jeff not only shows you how to convert your visitors but also how to set up tracking which gives you an insight in to visitor behaviour.

The good thing about this module is that Jeff shows you real examples, using his actual sites, so you get a good insight in to his business. The part that I found most interesting was Jeff’s methods for testing various opt in templates. I will be trying this out with some of my own sites.

Week 4: Social Media
By now you will all have heard about the power of social media. It is definitely one of the most popular methods of driving free traffic, but if you don’t know how to maximise it’s potential you can waste a lot of time for very little return.

Jeff mainly focuses on YouTube and Facebook, which is understandable, but I was hoping for an in depth look at Twitter as I know for a fact that there is good money to be made on Twitter.

Week 5: Instant Traffic Money Machine
This method actually looks at alternative methods for driving traffic, such as: PPC, PPV and CPA. This traffic is not free but Jeff does show his students how to get cheap traffic that is highly targeted.

This module is probably not something that beginners should look to action until they are making money using Jeff’s free traffic methods. Even if he can get traffic for as little as 2 cents a click, I strongly advise that you only consider this when you are making money.

Week 6: Instant Affiliate Traffic
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money in internet marketing. Here Jeff shows you exactly why that is and how you can use affiliates to generate even more traffic. He will also show you how he makes money by helping other marketers sell their products.

Given that Jeff has made the majority of his money in affiliate marketing it is no surprise that this section is probably the best in the entire course.

Week 7: List Building
The power of the list! Ever heard people say this before? Well owning a list can be an extremely profitable source of income. In this section Jeff shares his methods for capturing email addresses and how best to talk to your list.

Having a relationship with your list is extremely important and Jeff probably proves that more than most. I don’t believe that Jeff has a list that is anywhere near the size of someone like Frank Kern, but he often beats him on JV leader boards and that is down to the relationship he has with his subscribers.

Week 8: Coaching Calls
Jeff will revist all the methods that he has taught in group coaching calls. These sessions are always interactive and students will have the chance to ask Jeff any questions they may have about online marketing, whether covered in this course or not.

To find out more about Traffic Voodoo
go here:
http://www.agenzy.com/TrafficVoodoo

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Cost-per-action is a sure way to earn income on the internet, its fast, easy to setup and is also a passive source of income.

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You will learn how poverful and leveraging can be if you implement affiliate marketing into your business. Position yourself as a professional and monetize all your marketing efforts.

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While many techniques exist to make money affiliate marketing, it is simple websites that are normally the most productive. Let us remember that very few marketing opportunities exist that could make the earnings that are possible with affiliate marketing.

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