I’ve been looking for this for years! Don’t you grow tired of the time you spend trying to syndicate a good blog post or article? You could spend 15 minutes submitting a link to Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc.  For some time I have been looking for a service that would allow me to submit a link to all of these Social Bookmarking sites at once. Imagine the time that you would save.

At this point we have a great service for syndicating pictures and videos (pixelpipe) and a great service for updating our statuses on various sites at once (ping.fm). The good news is that FINALLY we have a Social Bookmarking syndicator. ONLYWIRE has come along just to end my nightmares! OnlyWire offers both free and paid accounts and so far my experience has been fantastic. They offer various tools such as browser plugins and more to help you readily syndicate content.

My very favorite part of the service is their WordPress plugin. I have removed my traditional “Add to Any” plugin that is most widely used on wordpress blogs to enable readers to syndicate a post/article and in it’s place I have placed the OnlyWire syndication button. In addition to having the same options to share a link with any one service users can also setup their own OnlyWire account to submit the link to all their social bookmarking services at once.

This is a huge WIN/WIN for readers and blog owners alike. Think how much more likely links are to be syndicated to various networks with the new ease of the OnlyWire system. I am encouraging all blog owners and internet marketers to subscribe to OnlyWire and install the plugin on their sites. The more users we can get plugged into the system the better it will be for all of us. Simply go to the bottom of this or any other post on my site and hover your mouse over the bookmark button. Create your own account and submit this article to all your networks. If you have your own blog go install the OnlyWire plugin to get your readers on the same service!!!!

Warning: Not all bookmarking services can be submitted to automatically. Sites such as Digg.com require human verification in order to finalize a submission. OnlyWire will automatically syndicate your link to as many social bookmarking sites as possible and then send you an email with notice should you need to manually finish the process for any specific services.

So I’ve been having this conversation with other Internet Marketing buddies. When it comes to twitter its important to start a conversation and interact with people in a genuine and sincere way but what about just the general effort to get twitter followers?

It seems that people judge your credibility based on the number of people who follow you on Twitter but with that having been said you have to be really famous or previously successful to have thousands of people start following you spontaneously. Most of us despite our desire to be honest and and contribute quality information; we have to go to considerable effort to get enough followers for anyone to think us credible.

What are your thoughts? Is this constant effort of everyone to get more followers a fake and counter-productive effort or is it simply necessary to build a following in order to have any influence at all?

Jacob S Paulsen

The basic concept of social networking and online marketing is the same as traditional offline marketing. Meet people, build trust, and expose them to your product/opportunity. The reason the internet is getting so much attention is because of the ability to meet so many people at once. Building credibility is made a little more difficult but can be done over time.

While there are now thousands of different social networks popping up online there are 3 that have set themselves aside as the big dogs. The Holy Trinity of social media consists of Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.

Each is clearly different in it’s own right and can be used differently in your overall social media marketing plan. All three are about community building. When setting up your profiles on these three sites make sure you are consistent. Try to use the same username on all the sites and don’t forget that your username should be some kind of combination of your name or initials. Using the same profile pictures on all your social media sites also helps people identity and remember you.

Your approach should be the same with all three. Create a professional and personal profile, find a niche, and add targeted friends. Its not enough to connect with people in only one place. Make it your goal to connect with the same people in all 3 places.

Other potential big hitters…

www.goodreads.com

www.friendfeed.com

www.flickr.com

www.orkut.com

www.myspace.com

Jacob S Paulsen

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.

Recently I had a marketing friend ask me what I thought was the best service online for “Email Marketing.”  Since email marketing is an important part of what all online marketers do I thought it prudent to do an overview of the different services out there. In the upcoming week or so I will also prepare an article about how to best utilize this technology on your website.

Now I’m going to briefly overview each of the most popular services out there. I have personally used 3 of the 5 services below and will attempt to give you the highlights on all 5. I highly suggest that if you are shopping around you read about each of the services below. At the bottom of this post I have set up links to each of these services so you can go directly to their sites and try out the free trials etc.

• Icontact.com Icontact is among the cheapest programs I have tried out. Their system is very easy to use and I especially like their RSS feed importing tool which I believe is unique to Icontact & Aweber. They do have a free trial you can sign up for to get a feel for the program. Their service starts out at $9.95 per month. That price will allow you to have up to 250 contacts. They have a good number of templates you can use. They allow importing & exporting of contacts and they provide good reporting of your emails.
• ConstantContact.com Constant Contact provides all the same services mentioned above. The only thing I really think they offer than most other programs don’t is there multi-list feature. This allows users to select which types of emails they want to receive from you. Instead of having individual signup forms for each list you have one signup page where users choose from all the options. This could be good or bad for you. I prefer the ConstantContact email creation program the most of all of them. They make it very easy to use their professional templates. Constant Contact is a little more pricy and will charge for an email archive.
• Email Marketer. The Email Marketer program designed by Interspire is my absolute favorite program and the service I currently use. It is the only program I’m reviewing today that has no ongoing monthly fees. You purchase the software for a one time cost and then install it onto your server. You maintain complete control over all the functions since it is installed on your site. It has all the features you could ever want: Stats, Lists, Contact Manager, Professional Templates, SignUp Forms, etc. They even have a spam word search option that is SUPER COOL. This is a large upfront expense but it will save you money in the long run. The other services reviewed here increase your monthly cost as your total number of contacts increases. With Email Marketer you never need worry about a financial burden.
• AWeber.com I have never personally used Aweber. From what I can gather from their website and feedback from fellow marketers that use it the features are similar to icontact & constantcontact. One distinct feature that I was impressed with on their site in potential shopping cart integration. Setting up an easy check out from the email to paypal etc… Sounds cool! Their cost starts out at $19 per month after the free trial but that does include up to 500 contacts.
• GetResponse.com I have never personally used GetResponse. From the looks of things on their website I am once again drawn to conclude they have similar features to the other guys. I do wonder however why I have never found anyone else who uses the program? Are they new in town or simply not as good? Their monthly prices start out at $17.95 per month

Social Media is changing the world. No longer do people turn to traditional forms of media such as tv, newspapers, radio, etc for their news & information. The internet has made the world transparent and social media networks such as facebook, youtube, twitter, etc are changing the way people get their information.

Business owners and advertisers alike must take this into consideration. Without wasting huge amounts of time and without becoming spammers we must embrace this revolution. More to come on this topic but for now enjoy this short inspirational video about Social-Media.