I had a recent request on my tutorial video page to record a tutorial about using “Tell A Friend” forms to further syndicate web pages and blog posts.

Before you watch my video about how to utilize the Cforms plugin to create a “tell a friend” form I want to quickly review the true application and purpose.

In our modern marketing world the tell a friend tactic is growing less and less common. Social news and social bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious are making it easier to share web pages, blogs, etc with your online network. You need only share a link on your Facebook profile and all of your friends are exposed to it instantly. If any of them comment on it then all of their friends also become exposed to it. This is what we refer to as “viral.” How much more powerful is that type of syndication than trying to manually enter your friends email address and name so they can get an email telling them about this page?

There are still some simple applications for the tell a friend forms but let me emphasize that you would be much better off to put a “Digg” button, or a share on Facebook/Twitter link at the end of your blog post than to request that your readers manually fill out a form with the names and email addresses of a few friends. WordPress offers several great plugins for offering simple syndication of your posts by your readers. My favorites include the “Social bookmarking” plugin and the “Digg Digg” plugin.

That all having been said here is the 10 minute or less tutorial video about utilizing the “Tell A Friend” form and the mentioned plugins.

Do you have goals? Of course you have goals, and so do I. Despite how public you make them or how often you think about them we all have goals. What separates people is the question of achieving those goals. Right now I’m training towards running a 1/2 marathon on August 8th. This will be about 10 miles longer than any run I have run in at least 8 years and probably (though I can’t be sure) the longest run of my life. Lets outline some of the principles that play the BIG roles in your success or failure at acheiving your goals.

1. Making it public: You will never achive anything great or big without becoming accountable to all those around you. Since my post on March 15 I have made it quite clear and public what I intended to do in running this 1/2 marathon. Not only do all of my blog readers and online friends know about it but I’ve already committed local friends and family to be present physically to chear me on.
2. Recruit a support team. You can’t do it alone. My wonderful wife Ami is also running everyday even though she doesn’t intend to run the 1/2 marathon and I did convince my oldest brother to run the 1/2 with me. As silly as it sounds my dog is also now counting on me to get out and run every day to satisfy her need for exercise. I have a support team and to make it all the more strong I have recruited someone to join me in my goal.
3. Keep track of your progress. Find a system to measure your progress. Some things can be done automatically and other goals will have to be measured manually. As for my running I use a GPS enabled Android (G1) phone with the buddyrunner app to keep track of my progress.
4. Publish your progress. Nobody will be as passionate about your goal as you are but the more you talk about it and keep everyone informed the more accountable you will be and the more people that will flock to you. Every time I go for a run my phone automatically uploads my run to an online dashboard at http://www.buddyrunner.com/jacob where it can be viewed publicly. It also automatically updates my status on facebook, twitter, and freindfeed with my latest run stats and a link to my online dashboard. (Thank you to the buddy runner team for making my accountability so automatic.
5. Plan on it being difficult and encountering barriers to your success. Anything worth acheiving won’t be easy to acheive. Something will get in the way. Plan on it and be ready when it comes. Recent injuries have threatened to slow my progress but with the help of my friend Erskien Lenier I have continued plowing through.
6. Celebrate your success. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do (still have some time to plan) but on August 8th I’m going to have to have a party or something seriously AWESOME to celebrate.
7. Set a new goal and follow the pattern again. Life is about extending yourself and becoming more. Don’t stop moving forward!

And to any other runners out there who might be local I encourage you to consider the Provo River 1/2 marathon as a noble goal. There is still plenty of time to get in shape!

I get a lot of phone calls from online friends who need assistance in setting up their websites and their social media profiles to begin working in internet marketing and social networking. Every once in awhile I think to myself that I should write a 2 page guide to “Online Domination Setup” which I could just email to these people who call me.

Today is that day. If you already have a website with 1000 plus visitors per week and more than 3000 twitter followers I would suggest you stop reading now and seek higher level training. For those of you who are still beginners here is what you need to know in less than two pages. To prove it I have provided a downloadable PDF file at the end of this post.

Online Marketing Umbrella Concepts:

First, you basically separate all of your online work and websites into these 3 categories:

1. Social Media – This is where you meet people and create relationships with them… NOTHING MORE.
2. Personal Website – This is where people you meet who want to learn more about you will come to do so. Your personal site needs to be in the form of a blog and it needs to contain informational, inspirational, and entertaining content. If best find a specific niche where with you can help your readers. The “niche” of this website is “Becoming More, Inspiration & Resources for Entrepreneurs.”
3. Sales Pages. This is where you will sell your products and opportunities to those who visited your personal site and wanted to know what you do for a living and to those who searched you out in search engines, etc.

Second, You will need to create a HUGE following in social media in order to really make a difference. This will require…

1. Sincerity. You will have to really care about the people you meet and have their best interests at heart
2. Marketing Ethics. Don’t SPAM people. (IE: marketing without permission or relationship)
3. Time. This will not happen over night. Do a little everyday over a long period of time and results will come.

TO DOs of Getting Started…

1. Get Your Own Website Started:
   1. Get a hosting account at either Godaddy or hostmonster. If you choose Godaddy get the deluxe hosting or higher. Buy the domain www.yourname.com as this will be the most important real estate you own in the virtual world. This one hosting account will allow you to host dozens of different websites down the road and it is necessary to get one eventually… why not now.
   2. Install WordPress onto the main directory of your website. This can be done painlessly with either Godaddy or Hostmonster. There are tons of tutorial videos on Youtube and I also have some on the “Tutorials” page of my site. Watch these same tutorials to help you set up your WordPress site with the best themes, plugins, etc.
   3. Decide what your online niche is going to be. Are you the Mountain Biking Kenyan who owns his own home business? Sorry, that’s already taken…
   4. Create content for your site and remember content should generally be either informative/educational, personal, or entertaining.
   5. Find a way to monetize your site by putting relevant ads onto your page from a affiliate group such as Linkshare or CommissionJunction If you already have your own products/opportunity to market put ads up for it or perhaps its own page.
2. Create a strong presence in Social Media. Focus on YouTube.com, Facebook, and Twitter but also any other network that is specific to your own niche or market. Example: if you live in Brazil you are likely to also focus on Orkut.comwhich is the most popular Brazilian social media site. Here are some tips:
   1. Create profiles that are both personal and professional in nature. You don’t want people to think you are a robot, but you don’t want them to think you are an amateur either.
   2. Don’t go on an adding friend frenzy. Search out and connect with the type of people that share your interests or make up your target market
   3. Don’t spread yourself to thin. If you are going to have a presence then have a real active presence.
   4. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t ask anyone to spend time looking at or commenting on your content unless you are willing and actively doing the same for them.
   5. Search out the best tools that allow you to syndicate content and increase your followers without spending tons of money. In my experience the paid tools are barely any better than the free ones and usually come with a sales pitch of their own.
3. Continue Your Education… by subscribing to blogs and sites to people who can help you grow. The easiest way to do this is by using an RSS reader like Google Reader. Go to http://reader.google.com and you will figure out without too much effort how to get started subscribing to other people’s sites. You will also find that most sites (like mine) have a subscribe option somewhere on the page. (top right). Your google reader will let you know every time someone who’s site you follow writes a new article/post and you will be able to keep up to date with the latest content without having to visit everyone’s site everyday.

Online Marketing Resources:

• PixelPipe.com Picture Syndication
• Ping.fm Status Update, Micro-Blogging Syndication
• TubeMogul.com Video Syndication
• TweetLater.com Schedule Tweets and Auto-Follow/Auto-UnFollow + Auto DMs
• Reader.google.com Best RSS reader for subscribing to other people’s blogs.
• Feedburner.com Program owned by Google that will help you give people to option of subscribing to your site via email.

Online Marketing Explanations:

• WordPress: WordPress is the BEST program to use to host your website, blog, or both. This is true for three basic reasons.
  • The way it interacts with the Search Engines is PERFECT!!!
  • The versatility of how it will perform or look is second to none
  • The ability for non geeky folk to be able to use it and not screw anything up is amazing
• Youtube, Facebook, & Twitter are the most important simply because they are the most popular. I would encourage you to find other social networks specific to your hobbies, passions, and specific product/opportunity.
• In setting up your sales pages as explained above you will use your same hosting account. Just buy a new domain, host it in a sub-directory (folder) and install WordPress.

Favorite WordPress Plugins: (See my tutorial videos on the “Tutorials” page for descriptions and instructions.

• All In One SEO
• Google XML Sitemap
• Google Analytics for WordPress
• Cforms
• Social Media Page

Download this Page in PDF Form.

What are my Top 10? Top 10 of what? Everything:

Top 10 Most Important Habits of Success

1. Regular Planning/Goal Setting Sessions
2. Daily Exercise
3. Early to Bed, Early to Rise
4. Education Driven, Studious
5. Absolute Integrity
6. Belief in and worship of a higher being
7. Humility
8. Clock Builder, not Time Teller
9. Strong Support Team At Home (AKA Family)
10. Charity

Top 10 Personal Development/Business books:

1. 7 Habits
2. 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
3. Atlas Shrugged
4. Rich Dad Poor Dad
5. Raving Fans
6. The Speed of Trust
7. Good to Great
8. Who Took my Money?
9. Think and Grow Rich
10. The E-Myth Revisited

Top 10 Most Inspirational Movies

1. Rudy
2. Pistol Pete
3. Without Limits
4. Remember the Titans
5. Pursuit of Happyness
6. The Miracle
7. The Legend of Bagger Vance
8. The Truman Show
9. Cinderella Man
10. Forest Gump
11. October Sky

Top 10 Other Favorite Books

1. Porter Rockwell
2. 1776
3. All Harry Potter Books
4. The Count of Monte Cristo
5. The Cronicles of Narnia
6. Hmm…. I guess all I read are the business books

Top 10 Favorite Social Media Tools

1. Ping.fm
2. PixelPipe
3. Tweetlater
4. Twitter Karma
5. My Android cell phone
6. WordPress
7. Email Marketer
8. Commission Junction
9. Google Analytics
10. Tube Mogul

Top 10 Most often used programs on my computer

1. Firefox
2. Skype
3. Camtasia
4. Filezilla
5. Itunes
6. Format Factory
7. Microsoft Office (of course)
8. Quickbooks
9. Gmote
10. Google Desktop

Top 10 Favorite Web Sites

1. Goodreads
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. AndroidSocialMedia
5. Start Geocaching
6. WebcastRooms
7. BuddyRunner
8. Youtube
9. My Website
10. Orkut

Getting Personal…

Top 10 things you didn’t know about me (maybe)

1. I’m an avid runner
2. I’m obsessed with guns and wish I worked for the secret service
3. I’m a certified NRA instructor and teach Utah CCW Classes
4. I’m deaf in one ear
5. I read/write/speak Portuguese fluently
6. I live in Utah right now but want to move to Colorado ASAP
7. I don’t really follow any sports at all
8. I think that men without a gun and a dog are not really men.
9. I currently have ownership in 4 business that are not my MLM business
10. I’m Mormon

Top 10 Most Favorite Things (In case you hadn’t figured them out by now)

1. My Cell Phone
2. Porter Rockwell
3. GeoCaching
4. Action Flicks
5. Guns, Security, and related things
6. AudioBooks
7. Dogs
8. US History
9. Eating
10. Making Money

Ami is right when she says that the only thing we get out of church are the blessings that come from obedience in being there. It could be compared to reading scriptures at a rock concert.

Right now it is sacrament meeting. This usually consists of Ami and I taking turns running around with Simon either through the gym or outside around the church.

Because Ami is still having ankle problems I’m taking the full duty today and so I find myself walking around the church with Simon blogging about it from my phone.

In one month Simon will go to nurshry and we will be back to enjoying part of church. This is a hard stage for us because Simon is too old to be quietly entertained with books and snacks, but too young to be taught right and wrong or consequences.

This routine will continue during the second block of meetings while Ami tries to get most of her primary calling done. Then we switch and while I teach priesthood she will chase Simon around the gym, hallways etc.

At least I get some good pictures out of this eh?

Jacob S. Paulsen